The first full week of September was not a bad one for onion exports. For the first time this season, the 30.000 hurdle has been passed. As is almost usual at this time of year, Africa takes the lead.
In week 36, 30.039 tons of onions were exported, according to figures from KCB/GroentenFruit Huis. That is 6.500 tons more than the corrected export in week 35. In total, 188.992 tons of onions were exported this season. That puts us 10.000 tons behind last season.
Senegal is by far the largest buyer of Dutch onions, partly due to a boat that was loaded in week 36, accounting for 6.604 tonnes. In total, Senegal imported 36 tonnes of Dutch onions this season up to and including week 26.032. This is quite remarkable because the border officially only opened this week (week 39). The first onions already went that way in week 28. Ivory Coast and Israel complete the top 3 largest buyers with an import of 3.307 and 3.938 tonnes respectively.
Belgium is ahead of Great Britain this week, with 2.661 tonnes, which imported 2.230 tonnes. According to insiders, it is not certain that these onions will remain in Belgium. They most likely went to Africa via a Belgian trader. The Dutch phytosanitary certificates are made for the Belgian buyer, so the onions are included in the statistics for Belgium.