News Onions
Onions now cheaper in the supermarket than at the farmer
The mainstream media is full of the unprecedented high prices for vegetables such as cauliflower and cucumbers. The price of onions has also reached a record. Yet there is little of this in the supermarket. In fact, you usually pay less for a kilo of onions at your local wholesaler than at the farmer.
Supermarket Scanner registers the prices of all products for sale in ten Dutch supermarket chains on a weekly basis. Only Lidl is missing. The kilo price of onions has risen since mid-January – from 84 to 96 cents per kilo – but that is not in proportion to the price that growers can currently get for their product.
The price increase may be small, but compared to a year ago there is a significant difference. At that time, the price was more than 63% lower at 50 cents per kilo, although this is probably largely due to inflation.
50 cents each
The cheapest onions can be found at supermarket chain Dirk, where you pay 85 cents per kilo. The most expensive onions are on the shelves of Jumbo and Jan Linders. There you pay € 1,39 for a net of one kilo. Incidentally, the nets of 1 or 2 kilos are the most attractive in price. Prices for onions packaged in pairs or three are sometimes almost 50 cents per piece!
What about potatoes? The average kilo price there is currently €1,08 per kilo. As with onions, the price has risen since January, by 6%. By way of comparison: a year ago you paid about 90 cents for a kilo of potatoes.
The really big increases can be found in the vegetables. The average price of cauliflower was €2,66 per piece at the beginning of February, compared to €1,92 at the end of December. With Dutch products in the supermarket, that price level was even lower last autumn, at €1,40. The unit price of broccoli has also increased in two months from €1,40 to €1,87.
price agreements
How is it possible that the grower price is around €1 and that the supermarket sells below that level? The suppliers probably have price agreements for a longer term, whereby the grower price is also (partly) fixed in advance. Moreover, the high onion prices are mainly for delivery in the coming months and not for direct sales. The most recent stock exchange listing for yellow onions stands at €65 to €68,50.
It remains a strange sight, especially when you consider that the cheaper supermarket onions have been processed, sorted and put in a net. If you have too much time, it is better to buy onions neatly and resell them to a sorter or speculator. Count out your profit.
Niels van der Boom
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