Kazakhstan, along with its neighbors Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, is experiencing a significant surplus of onions, leading to a drastic drop in exports by almost fivefold to 15.4 thousand tons in February 2024. Despite efforts to diversify export destinations, with Pakistan being the largest market followed by countries like Poland, the UAE, Afghanistan, Georgia, and Iraq, the country is struggling to offload the excess produce. This has resulted in instances where high-quality onions are being fed to sheep. According to EastFruit analysts, this phenomenon, attributed to overinvestment and speculation in onion cultivation, recurs approximately every three years, leading to a cycle of surplus and plummeting prices. This issue is not isolated to Kazakhstan but is a regional challenge, complicating the export of the surplus.