The supply of onions from potato storage has dried up considerably and two ships have to be loaded for Africa next week. Reason enough for movement on the onion market, you would expect. In practice, however, it turns out to be more stubborn.
Growers have been pretty much stuck in the saddle for a few weeks now and that hasn't changed this week. According to sorters, getting onions for less than €12 is not easy. For really nice coarse stuff, €15 is also an option. On the sales side, getting the bale price up is not going very well. If you ask a cent more for the middles or triplets, you won't hear back from potential buyers for a while if things go wrong.
Especially the sorters who do a lot of work for the bureau exporters are more or less stuck. If everything goes as it should, then it fits financially, but then there should be nothing against it. The motivation to turn everything upside down and do as many onions as possible in one day is lacking for this group of sorters. Working an hour or two longer is no problem, but according to these packers, working with two shifts is simply not possible with these margins.
Smuggling
Sorters who export a lot under their own management can cheat a bit with the export margins they are satisfied with. Ultimately it is a vest pocket-trouser pocket story, but at least it feels like there is more room in the current market. The (office) exporters are having trouble filling orders that come in at the last minute, partly due to the two departures planned for the first half of next week. However, there is a good chance that it will be quieter in the second half of next week. The idea among various exporters seems to be to rather compromise a bit on delivery times than to increase the price. Not illogical if you see the large fluctuations in exports in recent weeks.
De DCA quotation Bale price of Onions remains stable. However, there are some small shifts. Last week, the middles were mainly traded at the bottom of the range and this week it is the top.
Read here is the explanation from DCA Market Intelligence on the new quotations.