Twelve states concentrate the onion
fields in Brazil. The size of the crop in
2015 amounted to 1.461 million tons,
cultivated on an area of 56.7 thousand
hectares, according to the Systematic Sur-
vey of Agricultural Production (LSPA), of
the Brazilian Institute of Geography and
Statistics (IBGE). Compared to 2014, the
volume of the crop was 121 thousand
tons bigger, from IBGE sources. As to the
planted area, it went down 1.4 thousand
hectares, average productivity (25.7 t/ha)
soared 2.1 tons per hectare.
The State of Santa Catarina is at the top
of the list of the onion producers across
the Country, with an annual production
of almost 427 thousand tons in 2015. The
second and the third biggest volumes,
261.6 thousand tons and 195.5 thousand
tons, were harvested in Bahia and Minas
Gerais, respectively. Other onion produc-
ing states, in descending order, are as fol-
lows: São Paulo (154.2 thousand tons),
Rio Grande do Sul (147.4 thousand tons)
and Paraná (128.9 thousand tons).
Climate conditions and imports were
major interferences suffered by the sector
of this vegetable species in 2015. “Weath-
er conditions were not favorable for the
farmers in the South”, admits agronom-
ic engineer Daniel Schmitt, from the San-
ta Catarina State Rural Extension and Ag-
riculture Research Corporation (Epagri).
The crops in the states of Santa Catarina
and Rio Grande do Sul were adversely af-
fected by the warmer than expected winter
and by excessive precipitation in spring. In
all other regions, the crop remained sta-
ble. In the Northeast, the hardest hard-
ships involved water shortages, especially
in the São Francisco River Valley.
The agronomist explains that not al-
ways the entire crop corresponds to the
amount the farmers trade. IBGE officials
only take into consideration the crop col-
lected from the fields. In the case of the
southern states, where harvest takes place
in late spring, and the farmers scale their
sales, post-harvest losses are very high in
some years. “Therefore, the size of the crop
could be high, but sales are, sometimes,
much smaller”, he observes. This hap-
pened in the past two seasons, especially
in the 2015/16 growing season. According
to Schmitt, post-harvest losses in Santa Ca-
tarina are estimated to reach 50% in 2015.
HEFTY PROFITS
Expectations are
for more rewarding harvests in 2016. Over
the past years, prices in the Brazilian market
have remained rather high. Crop failures re-
sulted into tight supplies and encouraged
imports. “Imports drop in years of normal
harvests”, comments Daniel Schmitt, from
Epagri. In his view, profitability at farm gate
level is quite satisfactory. Despite the vari-
able production cost, with an average of R$
0.60 and R$ 0.70 per kilogram of onions.
“As prices have remained above R$ 1.00 per
kilogram for several months, profitability is
guaranteed”, he notes. Nonetheless, the dif-
ficulty has consisted in producing quality
bulbs that meet the requirements of the dis-
cerning national consumers.
Almost the entire onion crop produced
in Brazil is destined for the domestic mar-
ket. Consumption is estimated at six ki-
lograms per person a year. Over the past
decades, Brazil has become a relevant im-
porter of onions, with purchases amount-
ing to 200 thousand tons. Biggest suppliers
are Holland, Argentina and Spain.
Purchases of onions from abroad (274.6
thousand tons) reached record high in
2015, as attested by numbers released by
the Secretariat of Foreign Trade (Secex), of
the Ministry of Development, Industry and
Foreign Trade (MDIC). Schmitt maintains
that the higher imports were motivated by
the failure of the crop in the South. “The
consequence is discouragement among the
farmers, especially in Rio Grande do Sul
and Santa Catarina”, he comments. Lots of
farmers are abandoning their onion fields
because of difficulties getting labor, besides
the soaring production costs in 2016.
No
crying
From the fields scattered across 12 Brazilian states a total of 1.461 million
tons of onions were harvested in 2015, from 56.7 thousand hectares
42
Fonte:
PAM/2014 - LSPA/IBGE
– * Estimativa.
Safras de CEBOLA no Brasil
ACEBOLADO
Onion
Cebola
2014
2015
2016*
Produção (t)
1.340,5
1.461.580
1.515.795
Área plantada (ha)
59,2
57.878
56.132
Produtividade (t/ha)
22,6
25,7
27,2
BALANÇA COMERCIAL
Trade balance
IMPORTAÇÃO
EXPORTAÇÃO
2014
2015
US$
52.671.226 100.463.834
Kg
155.723.565 274.678.338
2014
2015
US$
671.193 2.003.913
Kg
1.093.085 4.921.007
Fonte:
MDIC/Aliceweb
– Elaboração:
Editora Gazeta
