The early and fast delivery has come to an end and the supply of onion sets is starting to increase. To get rid of all the onion onions in the near future, a lot of demand will be needed: the total volume expected adds up to quite a bit. However, demand does not match supply and that causes bale prices to move considerably.
Until last week it was all the other way around. The supply of onion sets was limited and could barely keep up with demand due to the high rainfall and later availability. Now that it has become a lot drier since last week, the supply is increasing. This will be considerably more between the first and second week of August, when most blocks have grown and need to be 'eliminated'. It can now also be said that the onion onion market has gone from a demand-driven to a supply market.
According to sorters, the demand is not very special at the moment, although there is certainly work to be done. Some people are still on a summer break and they are expected to start again at the beginning of August. So these are not bad weeks in terms of sales, but Africa is still only on the market to a certain extent. And if you want to sell a lot of volumes, you will soon need those ships in the ports to be able to export heavily. Especially when boats bound for Senegal are anchored here, things can move quickly. Although it remains to be seen when they will come to the market. Last year they got there early. This does not seem to be the case this year and it may not be until the end of August according to several insiders. But it is and remains difficult to say anything concrete about this.
Bottom not reached
The onion onion plots are on average quite reasonable in terms of yields and there has also been some area expansion this year. The growing weather has ensured that there are kilos under it and all of that must be eliminated in the coming period. Now that supply is growing, it is putting pressure on the bale price and therefore also on the grower's price. If at the beginning of this week €20 per 100 kilos was paid for nice blocks and direct loading, these days you are easily between €16 and €19, according to sorters and traders. With the supply increasing even further in the near future, the bottom for fully grown onion sets has not yet been reached.
Bale price
In the July months it is always difficult to give one clear price range for onion sets. Sometimes it just depends on what a fool would pay for it, the speed of delivery, the size selection or the destination and the associated quality, which causes variation in the price. The onion onion market is still somewhat affected by this, which means that the price range per size is sometimes still very wide. However, the bale price is falling now that supply is taking control.
The range in the DCA quotation Bale price of Onions decreases and amounts to €33 to €39 per 100 kilos, with the triplets at the bottom. For the coarse one pays between €35 and €38. For supers, which are few and far between, you are at the top of the range. The bale price was slightly higher at the beginning of this week, but is gradually falling further.