Traders and packers have bought many extra batches of onions in the past 2 weeks. Will this trend continue or are logistical problems inhibiting the current appetite for buying?
A purchasing wave is taking place on the onion market during this period. Limited supplies mean that onion packers are forced to return to the farm. The transaction lists have therefore displayed many new transactions in the past two weeks.
The mood among onion growers is therefore high. They get a lot of traders in the yard and the prices have taken a step up. All quotations from the three regional stock exchanges showed a positive difference this week. When all quotations are compared, €30 to €60 is paid for the 12 to 15% coarse sorting and €60 to €14 for the 16% upward sorting.
In contrast to farm prices, there has been little change bale prices.
Broad exports
Although the volumes are not yet special, the demand for Dutch onions is broad. Buyers in Europe, Asia and to a lesser extent Africa and Central America are in the market for Dutch onions. A hitch in the export cable may arise from the shortage reefer containers. The coronavirus means that many full containers are not allowed to be unloaded in China or must first be filled before returning to the Netherlands.
The shortage of reefer containers makes a number of processors reluctant to purchase additional onions. While they were still busy buying more last week and at the beginning of this week, they now want to wait and see the logistical situation first.