More and more onion sorters are calling it a day for this season and at the same time the bale price is taking a big step up for the second week in a row. Of course, it is not large volumes that are traded, but those who can still deliver ask for and get the top price.
Where the top of the onion market was fairly stable for a while, the mood has changed considerably in two weeks. From somewhat difficult sales, we are now in a situation in which the available stock is the limiting factor. Some sorters were very reluctant to pay €50 for June delivery that growers were asking for last month. "In hindsight, we should have secured even more, but I still had a stomach ache about it until last week," said a sorter. Incidentally, trading at the farm is now as good as over. If field crops are traded, this is usually between sorters themselves.
Some sorters still have some cheaper stock in their books and think: "With all the costs and risks that come with processing them myself, I'd rather pass them on to a colleague." Others have planned major maintenance or the installation of a new machine for these weeks and therefore have to stop. In any case, you have to rely on such cases to be able to buy more onions, according to insiders.
The few sorters who are still working are not careful with the prices they ask. At the beginning of the week, around €60 was traded per bale, mainly by sorters who were running out and wanted to get rid of the last onions. Towards the end of the week, this had increased to prices of up to €70 per bale. These are sorters who are trying to hold out a little longer with the remaining stock until the new Dutch onions arrive. Beautiful Egyptian yellow onions, delivered in Rotterdam, are slightly lower in price, but the difference is not too great, traders say.
Read here is the explanation from DCA Market Intelligence on the new quotations.