With 31 weeks to go, the Dutch onion export season has already reached nearly 700.000 tons. This makes this season far superior to previous years. It's not over yet. The big question is how long and at what pace the exports will continue.
It's no surprise that exports to West Africa have stagnated over the past two weeks. In the first three weeks of November, the main buyer of Dutch onions – Senegal – was literally inundated with Dutch produce.
More than 44.000 tons were shipped to Senegal in three weeks, according to preliminary data from the KCB and the GroentenFruit Huis (Fruit and Vegetable House). The second week of November was a particularly high, with nearly 18.000 tons shipped to the West African country. Even for a country that consumes perhaps 7.000 to 8.000 tons of onions a week, that's apparently a bit much.
Last week, exporters briefly suspected that the week 46 figure had been exaggerated. It all depends on which week a particular boatload is included in. But the announcement of the export figure of approximately 14.250 tons in week 47 emphatically underscores that a significant number of onions were shipped to Senegal last month.
Total exports to Senegal this season reached almost 170.000 tons by the end of week 47. And when you consider that the record Dutch onion export to this country is just over 181.000 tons (2024-2025 season), you realize things are moving very quickly this year. Normally, a very large quantity goes to this country just before Christmas, and there are also some ships scheduled for January.
Whether that will actually happen this season remains to be seen. Some believe Senegal will adhere very strictly to the January 1st closing date for imported onions this year. Another assumes some ships will still be heading that way in the first month of 2026. This last point is primarily based on the fact that Ramadan begins early this year – in mid-February – and that local production will then still be insufficient to meet the high demand for onions.
Fewer onions to Ivory Coast
Sales to Ivory Coast already showed a significant decline in November. However, exports to this country remain very high, at around 4.500 tons per week. This is, however, less than the more than 8.000 tons sold weekly to this West African country in October.
According to exporters, sales to Mali have also declined significantly over the past two weeks. This is not yet reflected in the figures released so far. In week 47, 3.600 tons were exported to this country, the largest weekly volume since the last week of August, when almost 4.000 tons were exported to the country.
Mauritania also had a strong presence on the market in the third week of November, with a purchase volume of over 3.000 tons. These African countries significantly impacted sales that week. Total sales in week 47 exceeded 42.600 tons, bringing the number of weeks this season with volumes exceeding 40.000 tons to ten. This represents almost half of the total number of weeks this season.