Whether or not there is a boat for Africa makes a big difference in onion exports. The good exports of week 37 are not continued in week 38. In fact, weekly exports have fallen below 30.000 tonnes.
In week 38, 29.872 tons of onions were exported, according to figures from KCB/GroentenFruit Huis. That is a bit of a shock after the 37.000 tons that crossed the border a week earlier. The five-year average for week 38 is 32.256 tons and last season 35.558 tons were exported this week. In total, 256.375 tons of onions were exported this season. Last week we had a lead of 1.000 tons on last season. That has now turned into a deficit of almost 4.500 tons.
No surprises in the top 3 of largest buyers this week. Senegal is by far the largest buyer of Dutch onions with 5.889 tonnes. Ivory Coast and Great Britain follow with 3.860 and 2.907 tonnes respectively. Nine countries imported more than 1.000 tonnes of Dutch onions in week 38. In addition to the usual African buyers, Israel, the Philippines, Malaysia, Belgium and France are in the top 10. The fairly broad demand that exporters are talking about is thus confirmed in the export figures.