There have been years when the onion harvest was not going so well. It is barely July and the winter onions are almost in. Processors can almost seamlessly switch to the spring plant onions. Only the demand from abroad has yet to get going, according to various sorters and exporters. That is not so strange relatively early in the new season.
In the transition to the onions of the new harvest, the market always has to find a new balance. In that respect, this season is no exception. What we have not done for a while is that we have left the old season with a steeply rising market. Those relatively high prices have certainly paid off for the free winter plant onion growers. According to some insiders, there is also a downside to this. "If you scream bloody murder that the Dutch onions are gone just to get the price up, you should not be surprised that buyers are looking for alternatives and are finding them," according to a sorter.
The fact that the demand for Dutch onions from abroad is currently somewhat lower, does not necessarily have to be bad in the slightly longer term. "Let them quickly use up the onions from the region or from Egypt in West Africa, then the market will be nice and empty when we can supply full capacity", according to an exporter.
Growing
Another factor that is somewhat tempering the mood is how the crops are doing in general. Yes, it is dry and slightly fewer yellow onions have been sown than last season according to the CBS figures, but the onions are healthy and fresh. The growing season is of course not over yet, but it would have to be crazy if the tons were disappointing.
The supply of new onions is coming to the market fairly evenly. Extremely warm days and days with rain prevent harvesting and loading in succession, but so far there are enough days on which something can be done for sorters to not run out of stock.
The DCA Bale price onions is taking a big step back this week. There are not that many coarse and supers yet, so the prices are still holding up well, but middles and triplets have dropped a spring. Some sorters with expensive winter onions are in a hurry to sell them because they are afraid that the bale price will drop even further in the coming week. The market is looking for the bottom and we have to wait and see where that is, is a frequently heard statement. Incidentally, that there is no demand as some try to make it seem is also not correct. For a somewhat larger order you have to work really hard to get the onions together, according to an exporter.