Edible alliums are important crops worldwide. Based on FAO statistics for mean production, and using mean export prices as a measure of the relative values of different crops, averaged over the years 2002–2004 the value of world edible allium production was about 21% of world tomato production, 54% of world brassica production and 120% of world barley production (FAO, 2007). As regards international trade, edible alliums account for about 49% of the value of tomatoes, 186% that of cabbages plus cauliflowers and 66% that of barley as an average over the years 2002–2004. About 46% of the value of international trade in alliums is for dry bulb onions, 31% for garlic, 13% for green onions and shallots and 10% for leeks and others. The average value of international trade in alliums for the years 2002–2004 was US$2167 million, and the total weight of alliums traded was 6.7 million t. The weight of alliums in international trade represents only about 9% of total production. Averaged over the years 2002–2004, world productions in millions of tonnes were 54.2 for dry bulb onions, 13.4 for garlic and 4.4 for green onions plus shallots and, averaged for the years 2003–2005, 1.78 for leeks and others (FAO, 2007).
World dry bulb onion production increased 2.34 times between 1978 and 2002, whereas population increased 1.45 times. The area under cultivation increased by a factor of 1.9 to 2.95 million ha in this interval, and world average yields increased from 14.04 to17.4 t/ha. Onion export prices increased only from US$191 to 226/t between 1977 and the 2002–2004 mean price, a fall in real terms if inflation is accounted for. The changes for garlic are more dramatic – production increased steadily by a factor of 3.08 between 1978 and 2002. The area under cultivation increased by 1.92 times to 1.12 million ha and world average yields increased 1.6 times to 11.2 t/ha. Export prices were US$794/t in 1977, and US$465/t as the 2002–2004 mean.
Bulb onions are produced from the subarctic regions of northern Finland to the humid tropics, although they are best adapted to production in subtropical and temperate areas. Many populous, developed countries – e.g. Germany, the
UK and Japan, oil-exporting Middle Eastern countries – e.g. Saudi Arabia – and countries in the humid tropics – e.g. Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Côte d’Ivoire – are large net importers of dry bulb onions and garlic. Important dry bulb onion exporters include India, Argentina, The Netherlands, Spain, Mexico, Turkey, the USA, Poland, Australia, New Zealand and Chile. India is the world’s largest exporter and supplies pungent bulbs to the Arabian Gulf states and many humid tropical countries. The Netherlands produces large quantities of long-storing, spring-sown, pungent onions, which are exported between September and April, mainly to Germany and the UK. The Netherlands also acts as a marketing intermediary, both importing and re-exporting onions. Bulbs from the southern hemisphere, notably Chile, Australia (especially Tasmania) and New Zealand have an important export market in northern Europe from May to July, when the previous year’s crop in that region has reached the end of its storage life.
Table 1.3. Allium species collected or cultivated for food in localized regions (minor crops).
Species name Region(s) where used English name
A. altaicuma Southern Siberia Altai onion
A. canadensea Cuba Canada onion
A. consanguinuma North-eastern India A. glaucumb Western Siberia A. hookeria Bhutan, Yunnan,
north-western Thailand
A. kunthiia Mexico
A. macrostemona China, Korea, Japan Chinese or Japanese garlic
A. neapoltanuma Central Mexico Naples garlic
A. nutansa,c Western and southern Siberia, Russia, Ukraine, Xinjiang
A. obliquum Western Siberia, Eastern Europe Oblique onion A. platyspathumc Xinjiang
A. psekemense Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan
A. ramosuma,bwild types China, western Siberia Chinese chive or leek of A. tuberosum
(see Table 1.1)
A. rotunduma Turkey
A. senescensb,c Western Siberia, Xinjiang
A. ursinuma Central and northern Europe Ramsons
A. victorialisa Caucasus, Japan, Korea, Long-root onion or Europe (formerly) garlic
A. wallichiia Eastern Tibet
aFrom Fritsch and Friesen (2002).
bFrom Cheryomushkina (2005).
cFrom Jie et al. (2005).
Within a large country like the USA the market can be supplied year-round with onions from different climatic zones. Thus autumn-sown crops grown in the southern and south-western states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California produce bulbs for sale between late February and June. Crops from the irrigated mineral soils of the western states of California, Colorado, Oregon and Idaho produce large, sweet bulbs for sale from summer until January.
The north-eastern and northern states of New York across to Minnesota produce pungent, long-storing bulbs for marketing between September and April.
Because of the global trade in dry bulb onions, and because of the many techniques for growing and storing onions for sale year-round described later in this book, bulb onions are available throughout the year in most countries.
Onion prices fluctuate from year to year and, because there is a global market in onion bulbs, there is little that producers in any one region can do to control the market and stabilize prices. Better communication about the areas planted in production zones, the effects of weather in real time and the state of markets worldwide are beginning to evolve. Commercial web sites that supply price information on an international basis are also starting to appear.
Nevertheless, swings in supply and demand from year to year and unforeseen gluts on international markets are likely to remain part of the onion supply picture (Bosch-Serra and Currah, 2002). In Europe, the onions that are marketed must meet certain statutory quality standards (Commission of the European Communities, 1983, 1997).
Trends in global onion production are difficult to predict and depend on a complex mixture of technological and economic factors. For example, continual improvements in growing, harvesting and storage techniques, usually based on research, along with the introduction of more mechanization, have reduced the labour input and improved the quality and economics of the crop in the UK (MAFF/ADAS, 1982). As a result, national production rose eightfold between 1960 and 1981. In 1963 Egypt was the world’s leading exporter of bulb onions, sending 190 million t overseas, mainly to northern Europe. Bulb onions were second only to cotton in value as an export crop. Changes resulting from Nile flood control resulted in an epidemic of white rot disease (see Chapter 5) and, in 1986, Egyptian onion exports were down to 21 million t, though they have since recovered. Thus, unforeseen consequences of technological change almost destroyed the export industry in the country with the oldest records of onion cultivation.
Shallots are of much less economic importance than their larger-bulbed relatives. They are mainly produced by small-scale and home-garden growers, but they are particularly important in the humid tropics since the local strains have the pest and disease resistance necessary to grow in that environment (Currah and Proctor, 1990). In France, they are an important commercial crop with about 2400 ha under cultivation, giving an annual production of about 50,000 t (FAO, 2007).
Garlic is the second most important allium crop. It is a component of most of the world’s cuisines and, at least in the developed world, its popularity has been boosted by growing awareness of its health benefits (see Chapter 8).
Climatically, regions with a reasonably mild winter with some rainfall followed by a sunny, dry summer – which is good for ripening and harvesting the bulbs – are ideal for garlic production. California has such a climate, and most of the US garlic production is there.
World production, at about 12.6 million t/year, has increased more than threefold since the late 1970s, largely as a result of a huge increase in production by China, from 2,412,477 t in 1978 to 8,153,409 t in 2001, according to the 3-year moving averages of FAO (2007) statistics. A massive increase in Chinese garlic exports over the same period, from 11,283 t in 1978 to 1,115,890 t in 2005 (FAO, 2007), has led to the current predominance of China in the world garlic trade. The high quality and low price of Chinese garlic is making it difficult for producers to compete in higher-cost regions like California, and areas planted there are declining. Import tariffs were imposed by the USA in an effort to protect the local garlic industry and the EU has quotas for imports, negotiated primarily with China and with Argentina.
There has been a tendency for local production to decline and be replaced by imports in a number of developed countries in the last decade or more, e.g.
in Japan, France and Italy. Argentina is the second most important exporter of garlic, with exports fluctuating around 80,000–90,000 t in the years 2001–2005 following a steady increase in the 20 years up to the late 1990s.
Spain exported around 60,000–70,000 t in 2001–2005, having increased steadily from initially small quantities since the early 1980s. In addition to fresh consumption, the production of dried garlic for use in food manufacture and garlic extracts for use in dietary supplements and pharmaceuticals are important industries (see Chapter 8).
Leeks are an important European crop. Production by the countries of the European Community (EC), totalling about 800,000 t/year on about 30,000 ha, represents only about 25% of the annual production for bulb onions. However, because the price per unit weight of leeks is about 2.7 times higher than for onions, the monetary value of the crop within the EC is about two-thirds that of bulb onions. France is the largest EC producer, with 6420 ha in 2005. Other important producers are Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Spain, the UK and Greece. The average yield in the major producing countries varies from 20 to 40 t/ha, with Belgium having average yields well above the EC mean (FAO, 2007). A close relative of leek, the kurrat is an important crop grown for fresh green leaves in eastern Mediterranean countries, particularly Egypt (van der Meer and Hanelt, 1990).
Japanese bunching onions, rakkyo and Chinese chives are crops of com-mercial importance in eastern Asia, notably Japan, Korea and China. The annual production of Japanese bunching onion in Japan is about 600,000 t, roughly half the nation’s bulb onion production. However, the prices obtained
per unit weight of bunching onion are more than double those for bulb onions, so the value of the two crops in Japan is similar (Rabinowitch and Brewster, 1990a). South Korea produces about 430,000 t of Japanese bunching onions annually. China produced 16,010,000 t of bunching onion in 2001 on 478,000 ha, an increase from 3,474,600 t on 114,200 ha in 1990, a period over which total vegetable production in China approximately doubled (Debin et al., 2005). Annual Japanese production of rakkyo is about 30,000 t, much being used to produce high-value pickles, and annual Chinese chive production is about 66,000 t. These latter two crops sell for a price per unit weight roughly three times that of onion bulbs in Japan, so again the relative economic importance of the crops needs to be adjusted for price differences. In China, Chinese chive production was 7,574,600 t from 232,800 ha in cultivation in 2001, an increase from 3,474,600 t from 90,000 ha in 1990 (Debin et al., 2005). Exports from China of cooled fresh green alliums and pickled alliums have been increasing in recent years and were worth US$36 and 115 million, respectively in 2001 (Debin et al., 2005).
Chives are widely grown as a home garden plant for use as a flavouring herb. The total world area of commercial production is about 1000 ha, with large areas in Denmark, New Zealand and Germany (Poulsen, 1990). They are grown in greenhouses in Germany following a ‘forcing’ treatment (see Chapter 4) to provide winter leaves.
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© J.L. Brewster 2008. Onions and other Vegetable Alliums, 27 2nd Edition (J.L. Brewster)