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Uzbekistan is on course to produce 1.5 million tonnes of onions in 2026 — some 400,000 tonnes, or 35 percent, more than the country needs — yet retail prices in parts of the country have risen sharply enough to generate widespread complaints on social media. The Ministry of Agriculture has now offered a detailed explanation: the surplus is real, but transport costs and intermediary markups are absorbing much of the benefit before the vegetable reaches consumers.
The ministry’s account centres on Surkhandarya, the southernmost region, where the harvest is already complete. Farmers there gathered 387,100 tonnes over the first nine months of 2026; 120,000 tonnes went to local consumption and 46,000 tonnes were exported, with the remainder shipped to other parts of the country. With local supplies exhausted, traders are now buying onions from Jizzakh and Samarkand regions and trucking them south — a journey that adds 350–370 soums per kilogram in freight costs alone.
The Cost Chain, Step by Step
Farm-gate prices in Jizzakh currently range from 2,600 to 3,300 soums per kilogram; in Samarkand the range is 2,800 to 3,000 soums. Adding transport brings the landed cost to between 2,950 and 3,650 soums from Jizzakh and 3,150 to 3,350 soums from Samarkand. For deliveries reaching Denau district — one of the furthest points in Surkhandarya — the figure climbs to 3,400–3,500 soums per kilogram.
Retail prices on Surkhandarya markets are running at roughly 4,000–4,500 soums per kilogram. The ministry calculates that in some cases the gap between the delivered cost and the shelf price represents a markup of 52.5 percent. Across the republic as a whole, the average retail price over the twelve months from November 2025 to October 2026 was 2,552 soums per kilogram — well below the levels now seen in the south.
The ministry also published production-cost data: average yields this year are 35 tonnes per hectare, the total cost of growing one hectare is estimated at 65.5 million soums, and the cost of producing one tonne works out to approximately 1.87 million soums — or roughly 1,870 soums per kilogram at the farm gate.
Winter Reserves and a Warning to Traders
To cover demand through the winter and spring of 2026–2027, the ministry plans to build reserves of 102,800 tonnes nationally, of which 2,750 tonnes are earmarked for Surkhandarya. Harvesting is still under way in Tashkent, Samarkand, Jizzakh and Syrdarya regions and across the Fergana Valley, and the ministry said accumulated stocks could be released onto the domestic market through dedicated retail outlets at reduced prices.
The ministry also issued a direct caution to traders holding onions in anticipation of further price rises. Prolonged storage, it warned, causes weight loss and quality deterioration, ultimately resulting in financial losses for the holders themselves. The statement stopped short of announcing regulatory action against price manipulation, but the ministry said it was monitoring the situation and had identified intermediary markups of between 25 and 50 percent as a systemic factor in retail price formation.