France buys considerably less Dutch onions

This season, demand from France has been fairly constant. About 200 to 300 tons of onions are exported to France every week. Up to and including week 2, France purchased 7.210 tons of Dutch onions this season. This is a decrease of 12.698% compared to the 43 tonnes decreased in the same period last year. At the end of last season, the total export figure to France amounted to 22.686 tons of onions.

The fact that the export figures are lagging behind this year is because France itself has sufficient onions available. Many onions are grown in France and in a good year the country can be self-sufficient. An area expansion has also taken place this year. A large share has been added, especially in the Orléans region (especially onion onions). However, yields were meager this year and, just like in the Netherlands and other European countries, many fine onions were harvested.

(Text continues below chart)This season, more than 2 tons of onions have been exported to France until week 7.000.

Own onions first
Chauvinistic as the French are, they will first use up their own stocks before importing onions from other countries. Due to the area expansion, many exporters have received little demand from France this year. When France imports onions, Spain and Italy are the main candidates to fill the market. Then it is the Netherlands' turn.

Since the onions in France are very fine and competing countries have the same problem, it is possible that France will still have demand at the end of the season. The demand will probably be for large onions.

French harvest
The onions grown in France are comparable (in terms of size) to the Dutch onion. The size sorting of the onions in French supermarkets is therefore comparable to the onions in Dutch supermarkets. Many French onions are grown on loam soil, which ensures that the onions have a beautiful white color. The regions where the most onions are grown are: Orléans (region below Paris), Reims, Nance, Nancy, Normandy, Brittany and in the past also Marseille. 

Almost all of the onions harvested in France remain in France. Only a small percentage is exported (mainly to Africa). The high transport costs and paperwork, which is very cumbersome, give France a difficult competitive position when exporting onions. The bale prices of French onions are currently €10 for the medium grade and €19 for the coarse onions.France has 62 million inhabitants and is 13 times the size of the Netherlands (551.500 km2).