Traditionally, the market is quiet in January. It is an 'intermediate phase', in which the export (largely) switches to the export destinations in Europe. And 2019 will be no different.
Despite the fact that January is traditionally an intermediate phase, the peace and quiet is more pronounced than in other years. It is still not clear whether more onions will be sent to Senegal exported may be. However, in practice the borders are still closed and no additional onions from the Netherlands are allowed into the country.
Ivory Coast, which has imported more than 52 tons of onions up to and including week 81.000, also purchases much less than normal. As a result, exports to the country are of little significance. The mood on the market now depends mainly on volume. If that is missing for a longer period of time, the market feels calm and quickly has an uncomfortable undertone.
Looking at Europe
Sales of Dutch onions will now mainly depend on: Europe need to be looked at. The expectation is that demand will certainly increase, but the question is when that will happen. The current sales to European customers do not carry sufficient weight and people are operating cautiously. There is certainly interest, because inquiries are currently being made about the availability of onions and prices. However, going ahead is not yet an option.
This attitude goes back to the Dutch grower, where trade is also quiet. The processors still have (expensive) stock from the previous purchasing round (December 2018), which means that few new positions are being taken. In time, the trade will inform growers about securing onions, but currently only a few are taking a position.
Lower stock market quotations
The calm purchasing picture was also reflected in the regional quotations this week. All stock exchanges showed a lower quotation. There was little volume and bale prices are also under pressure. Although there is still no shortage of onions, which creates varying expectations for the remaining months of this season.
On the theme day Onions The consequences of the 2018 harvest year were discussed, among other things. It emerged that the search for alternatives sometimes involved some surprising elements, with it turning out that the quality of Chinese onions was in a number of cases sufficient to serve certain destinations. And onions were also searched for and eventually found in Spain, France, Tunisia and Morocco. Whether the new trade relations are future-proof remains to be seen.