The temporary low point on the onion market seems to be behind us. Especially with coarse onions of good colour, sorters can do well. The only problem is that there are always middles and triplets from a batch. There is much less market for that.
After the frost at the beginning of the week, the temperature now feels like spring. Growers are starting to get excited. Driving up the land or spreading fertilizer is easy, but quite a few onions are also being planted. This is certainly going quite well on freshly ploughed land. Too bad rain is already predicted for the weekend.
An early start of planting the second-year planting onions does not harm the mood on the current onion market. In fact, the mood among growers and sorters is becoming somewhat more positive. It is certainly not the case that people are buying for the foot, but there is a buying round going on for onions for delivery in March/April/May. For direct delivery, the price remains stable, around €15 for good coarse onions and that increases to around €20 for delivery in April/May. There is a large spread in quality. Finer onions that show the first signs of germination are logically traded for lower prices. €12 is more in that direction according to insiders.
Rough is requested
These large differences in quality are also reflected in the bale price. For beautiful white supers, €25 is now being made per bale. It is mainly Spanish buyers who are on the market for this. Because the supply of coarse onions is not sufficient, England, another important buyer, has to keep up with what Southern European buyers do. At the other end of the spectrum are the triplets and middles. Especially if they are not completely free of germs, that is difficult trade. Some exporters try to play on this cleverly by buying cheaper from the next with the price list of one sorter. That is comparing apples and oranges if you are not careful. A 45-65 that has just been turned from a Spanish batch cannot be compared with a box bought sharply by the processor from the grower because of germs that have been on the wall for a week now.
The bale price remains fairly stable this week on average. The finer sizes are under some pressure. For sales of these, we mainly have to rely on overseas exports and demand is somewhat disappointing there. Also, not everything is suitable for long-term transport. Super is actually taking a step up due to relatively high demand and/or moderate supply.
Read here is the explanation from DCA Market Intelligence on the new quotations.