The fire is completely out of the onion market

It is not that the demand for onions has completely collapsed, but pressure is different. Demand from Africa is increasing somewhat, but not every exporter is looking forward to that work. We are heading towards the end of the season and you don't want onions to be in transit for another month before they reach their destination. "You will lose a few cents more that buyers from such countries offer if there is a subsequent claim. That risk is simply high at this time of year," said a sorter.

Another frequently heard argument for being careful with buyers from outside Europe is that problems with the last onions of the 2023 harvest can sometimes be used or abused to enforce a discount on the first onions of the new harvest. "If you're not careful, you'll be behind 1-0 before an onion has been lifted," say some sorters.

Price-conscious
Buyers in Europe are very price conscious. They want the onions, but they just don't want to pay more for them than is strictly necessary. It was fortunate for Dutch exporters that it was also wet in parts of Central and Eastern Europe this week. The harvest of the onion onions was therefore largely at a standstill.

Dutch sorters who are still working generally pick the best onions they can find from the growers. The group that tries to force something with a slightly lower quality on price now seems to have definitively dropped out. That is not bad for the trade and keeps the bale price in check.

De DCA quotation Bale price of Onions remains largely stable. Both up and down the extremes decrease a bit. The questionable triplets for €17 practically no longer pass by, but on the other hand, hardly any large ones go to the more exotic destinations for, say, €35.

Read here is the explanation from DCA Market Intelligence on the new quotations.