Chinese v/s Indian Onions: Understanding the domestic Vietnamese market

Published 2021년 7월 3일

Tridge has collaborated with Pivot Universal, an Indian onion supplier, to bring insights regarding the recent export trends in the onion market, particularly in Vietnam.

Vietnam was ranked the 2nd largest importer of onions in the world, representing 7.04% of the global onion market. To fulfill the high domestic consumption, the country relies heavily on imports from neighboring countries. Particularly, Chinese onions have a predominant influence in the Vietnamese onion market, representing 97% of total imported onions, followed by India (2.25%), Myanmar (0.13%), and the Netherlands (0.12%).

Source: ITC TradeMap and Tridge. HS Code: 070310

Pivot Universal is a leading agricultural exporter based in India who has experience exporting onions to Asian countries, including the United Arab of Emirates, Vietnam, and Malaysia. The company is well known in the international market and focuses on offering products that follow international standards of quality & product handling procedures.

Vietnam imports high-quality onions from India, which are 45mm+ grade and are highly priced in the country. The Northern part of Vietnam and the port of Hai Phong receives large quantities of onions from India every year, while the southern part receives onions from Thailand and China. However, Indian onions are popular across Vietnam due to their pungent taste and flavor. According to Pivot Universal, the price of Indian onions in domestic markets of Vietnam is between USD 1.20 per kg to USD 1.35 per kg, which is more than the price of Chinese onions, which is between USD 0.81 per kg.

The market remains dominated by Chinese onions due to uncertainty related to the supply of onions from India. In the last few years, the ban on exports of onions by the Government of India pushed up the prices of onions in Vietnam, forcing it to rely on China and Thailand to meet its domestic onion demands. The Chinese and Thai onions available in Vietnam are 55mm+ variety and less expensive than the Indian onions.

The recent COVID-19 pandemic-induced lockdown has reduced the income of the population and their preference for Indian onions. Vietnamese consumers prefer Thai or Chinese onions due to their lower price and easy availability. Indian onion suppliers are reluctant to supply small onions to Vietnam due to increasing logistic charges and limited market share.