Parties behind the barn
Hopeless situation for onions and carrots
Arable farmers who still have carrots or onions in storage are facing an extremely grim situation. The trade in carrots is particularly bad. Buyers must be sought in livestock farming. There are more buyers for onions, although there is no balance for the grower. It is important to empty the shed.
While the onion market experienced some revival, growers of storage carrots have had a disastrous season. Stock prices did not exceed 10 euros at their peak. Traders can add up to the causes in this way: Russia locked, no demand from Poland, the German strategy of their own carrots first and an ever-growing acreage. It is a straight-up doomsday scenario for the grower.
Peen behind the barn
For growers who still have crates of carrots, and there are quite a few, it is important to get rid of their product. Currants in the porridge are sought. Good quality batches are slowly being sent to Poland or elsewhere in the Eastern Bloc. If the quality is not there, the question is whether the grower wants to incur costs for rinsing. About 10 euros per box. The carrots go into animal feed or to the biodigester. Those who do not want to incur additional costs deposit their product "behind the shed".
Guessing numbers
How many tons of onions or boxes of carrots are still in Dutch storage sheds and cold stores, commission agents and traders hardly dare to say. For the carrot, figures are mentioned that lie between 40.000 and 60.000 crates. With onions, in the corridors there is talk of a volume between 30.000 and 60.000 tons that has no copper. In the province of Flevoland in particular, many arable farmers have (partially) full barns.
New harvest offers no solace
Insiders have little hope for the new carrot season. The area of early carrots is simply too large. Rigorous shrinkage is required to avoid disappointment in the future. A considerable supply of early carrots is now being released from France and Spain. That offers little hope for Dutch sales. Especially in view of the fact that Germany and Belgium give priority to locally grown products. The Netherlands, as a gap filler, foots the bill. Opportunities only exist in the event of a crop failure.
Poland base for onions
Sounds from the onion market show that the trade here is less in a dip. Commissioners are convinced that all barns will be emptied, without parties going back onto the land. That is only the solution for the worst quality, even when a digester does not offer an option.
60.000
boxes carrot
Peeling companies in Poland are currently an important buyer, receiving onions of average to good quality on a zero euro basis. The best batches, and there are still plenty of them, give growers away for 1 to 2 euros. Sorters and exporters use this product to meet the demand from Africa. In view of the quality and the price level, this will continue until the beginning of July. Brazil is no longer on the market. They have their own crop. In addition, exporters no longer dare to send the current product that far overseas.
Live on old onions
The first winter onions are expected to be harvested at the end of this month, followed by onion sets in early July. They are slightly delayed. In addition, the acreage is estimated to be smaller. However, this product is mainly intended for supplies to European supermarkets. A bottom price for old onions offers little prospect for onion sets. As long as the old harvest is not finished, the market will not quickly opt for a more expensive product. This saves the onion grower from the scenario from carrot cultivation.
Cover photo: Arie van Os (@arievanos1).
Niels van der Boom
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