Welcome to another edition of the Magnus Kahl Seeds newsletter.
The last few months have been very busy for the MKS teams in Australia, Pakistan and Dubai with a range of activities taking place.
After 10 years at Lancefield, the MKS head office and processing facility has been moved to Melbourne and is now located at 6a Dairy Drive, Coburg North. This move has enabled the company to focus on servicing our customers’ needs in a more efficient manner. From this location we are able to treat, pack and dispatch seed to our clients within 48 hours (document requirements dependent) of receiving the order, which allows for greater support in the field if seed is required urgently.
The other development for MKS has come from our Dubai office. This has involved the design, production and roll out of our new 500 gram stand up pouches for our higher value, hybrid varieties. This packaging features a clear panel on the back which shows whether the seed has been treated. These pouches are re-sealable which allows for any unused seed to be stored at the correct moisture level.
Finally, we have had some returning and new team members to welcome at Magnus Kahl. Natasha Lakhani (Director) has returned from maternity leave and is taking care of the management of the Pakistan business. Emma Pender has also returned after her maternity leave and resumes her role as Admin and Project Manager for the company. Rodrigo Aliaga has joined MKS in the role as Warehouse Coordinator and is also servicing sales in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and our Hispanic markets in Europe and Central and South America.
We hope that the growing season is successful and onion prices are high.
Brazilian Onion Market Overview
As in many countries, the onion is an extremely important vegetable in Brazil. It is estimated that around 60,000 hectares of onions are farmed in Brazil per annum, resulting in a total annual production of around 1.5 million tons. However, for a country with a population of 200 million people, the domestic production in Brazil is not sufficient, thus leading to the importation of a further 250,000 tons each year.
The imported onions for Brazil come from neighbouring countries, mainly Argentina but also Chile; imports are also received from Holland, however on a smaller scale. In 2015 the onion yields in Argentina were poor resulting in a lack of supply for Brazil; as a result onions were a much sought after commodity at the beginning of the Brazilian onion harvest.
Early in the selling season, for a short period, growers were receiving USD $2/kg. This has now come back to USD $0.80c/kg – still an excellent result for the onion growers in Brazil. Magnus Kahl Seeds is currently very active in Brazil with a range of short day yellow varieties beginning to take hold in the market. Red onions certainly are not as popular in Brazil; however Magnus Kahl Seeds do also have a presence in the red onion market. Recently Magnus Kahl Seeds visited Brazil to assess trial and commercial hybrid fields. The results continue to be very promising.
