News Onion Analysis 2019
Onion growers cherish the free character
Several onion growers like to take risks in order to achieve a higher sales price. That's the short summary of the survey from Boerenbusiness on the risk management of onion growers. If things go wrong, most growers regard this as bad luck.
If you ignore the free sale of co-delivery kilos within the potato contract, you will see that the free nature of the market has decreased considerably in 8 years. Of the 250 arable farmers surveyed, 55% indicate that they work with a permanent contract. Of these, 121 people indicated that they also grow onions. About 4% indicate that they are interested in growing onions. Interested parties come from all over the Netherlands, sell their potatoes freely and also have a relatively large potato area (50 hectares or more).
Of all growers, 28% come from the province of Flevoland. The provinces of Zeeland and South Holland each account for about 20% of the number of growers. With regard to the total number of onion growers, it can also be seen that these are mostly larger companies. The size of the company contains at least 25 hectares of potatoes, but often also 50 hectares or more. In almost all cases the onions are grown on clay soil. The origin of the growers is therefore quite traditional.
Striking sales strategy
Onion growers are somewhat freer in their sales strategy. About 75% sell the onions freely and 17% opt for a mix of sales strategies. By the way, cultivation in part-cropping or on contract is almost non-existent. This is reflected in the answers about potato sales. About 47% of the growers grow potatoes under contract. It is striking that 40% also supplies potatoes to a pool, while this is considerably less for the entire group. The free sale of onions may have been cherished if the potatoes have a fixed buyer and price.
It should therefore come as no surprise that only 12% are interested in signing a contract of €14 per 100 kilos (on 1 April). When asked for a sales price of €9,50, €29 and €5,50 spread over 3 years, 26% indicate that they are satisfied. This is an average of €14,60 per 100 kilos. Of the growers, 34% report having sold the onions on average over the past 5 years for a price level between €10 and €15. About 25% is above that, with a price level between €16 and €20.
They are ambitious results. Yet only 14% of the growers indicate that they want to get everything from the market for a top price. Nearly half are satisfied with a price that they consider to be correct. In addition, the focus is mainly on feelings, own market knowledge and the average sales result. Getting advice from colleagues is done less often.
Positive about selling online
If it is not possible to sell for a good price, then that is bad luck in half of the cases. Yet 12% of respondents blame themselves for poor sales performance. A slightly larger percentage think they sell the onions better than their neighbours, although 20% think the opposite. Onion growers usually don't lie awake if the decision is wrong.
Since 2013, it is also possible to trade onions online via the Uienhandel.com platform. 30% of the growers indicate that they consider online sales as a possibility. A larger group (39,5%) sees no benefit in this and 25% keeps it as an option. It is striking that some onion growers are against the online sale of onions, but see this as an option for potatoes. This also happens the other way around.
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Niels van der Boom
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