Normally, in the week before Easter, onion packers are busy packing onions for European destinations. Does this also apply in this exceptional year 2020?
Packers who normally supply a lot to retailers have had slightly more demand this week than a week ago. But this is not at the level we know from previous years. In the second half of March, European (retail) destinations hoarded many onions, resulting in considerable stocks throughout Europe. Moreover, the question is whether consumption behavior is comparable to other years around Easter, now that many people are not allowed to leave the house due to a lockdown.
Overseas demand is also minimal during this period, which means packers have peace of mind. However, these packers would like to get rid of their working supplies. To accelerate this, onions are offered at increasingly lower levels, causing bale prices to drop. An overview of the bale prices can be found in the DCA listing Bale price Onions.
The quiet export has ensured that hardly any additional consignments have been purchased from the farm in the past 2 weeks (if this has been the case at all). The trade wants to clear stocks first before purchasing new onions. Growers, on the other hand, are becoming increasingly inclined to say goodbye to onions with the warm weather.
Although the regional stock exchange committees had a meager list of transactions, all three committees managed to get a quote on the board this week. The trend of these quotations is negative. All sortings show a decrease compared to last week. When all quotations are compared, €3 to €30 is paid for the 60-13% coarse sorting and €16 to €60 for the 14% upward sorting.