For the onion pools this year, the earlier it ends, the better the performance. However, most pools are committed to spreading sales over the entire sales season. Despite this limitation, Wiskerke's base pole still fared well.
During the first 7 weeks of the marketing season, the onion market remained at a fairly constant level of approximately €0,14 cents per 100 kilos. The decline soon started and in November the price fell below €0,14. There is no saving it anymore. In week 16 the price drops below the euro. “That is also the moment that our basic pool expires,” Jaap Wiskerke explains. The speculation pool will continue for a while. “This was created to benefit from a high price later in the season, but that is not the case this year. With the basic pool you were better off as a grower.”
The result is an average price of €8,85 per 100 kilos. The price on week 14 is €9,47. “It's actually a shame that at the end there were still onions that sold for a low price. They pull the average down enormously, but the pool rules prescribe it that way.” On the other hand, there was nothing to complain about the quality. The tare percentage of the Arctic onions is 7,21%.
East Africa served with onions
Wiskerke worked energetically last season and put his words into action when it comes to ideas from Chayenne Wiskerke to ship the surplus to starving East Africa. “We have succeeded in serving new markets in that region. Countries such as Kenya, Sudan and Ethiopia that previously never sent onions, now bought them. The high import tax of about $10.000 per container is an issue. It is understandable that the government protects its own growers, but this levy is too high for the 4 to 5 months when there are no local onions. This prevents the population from trading. I would say; If the import tax is set at $1.000 per container, then with 100 or 200 containers you still have $200.000 in income as a country.”
He does not know whether Wiskerke will export onions to East African countries again next year, but he says the local reactions are good. Wiskerke now supplies 105 countries around the world with Dutch onions.