Onion prices are slowly rising and sorters have had more than enough to do for weeks. The latest export figure for onions does not entirely match these predominantly positive sounds.
In week 43 (the last full week of October), Dutch onion exporters exported 29.891 tonnes of onions. The fact that exports fell below 30.000 tonnes is a bit of a disappointment. A possible explanation is that some of the phytos for week 43 were already made in week 42 because there was some delay in the departures. The average weekly export over week 42 and week 43 is 34.000 tonnes. That fits better with the mood in those weeks. In total, 426.842 tonnes of onions were exported this season, which means we are almost 29.000 tonnes ahead of last season.
Senegal and Ivory Coast are by far the largest buyers of Dutch onions, with 5.667 and 5.088 tonnes respectively. Guinea is in third place, buying 3.290 tonnes of onions. African countries make up the bulk of the exports, but the demand is broader. For example, Belgium, Great Britain, Malaysia and the Dominican Republic are in the top ten. In total, 77 countries were on the market for onions from the Netherlands in week 43.