Senegal overwhelmed with onions

Senegal has been a bit overwhelmed with onions in recent weeks. Not surprising, as three to four boats have gone there in a short time. After all the hustle and bustle that this has entailed, it is now a bit calmer regarding the sorting and packaging of onions. Last Friday, Senegal opened the border for imported onions. In anticipation of this, a lot of onions have already been sent that way. That quantity must first find its way in the Senegalese market before larger quantities can be sent again. Every day that a boat has to wait to be unloaded costs a lot of money. Senegal has opened the border for imported onions Now that the import licenses in Senegal have been distributed, we will have to wait and see how that distribution will pan out. The larger import companies received somewhat fewer licenses in favor of the smaller companies. It is also a question of to what extent these import quotas will be traded and thereby come back into the hands of the larger companies. It is still unclear to what extent the import licenses have already been filled. All in all, it seems that the total quota for imported onions is comparable to previous years. It is also a bit quieter now for several other destinations. This is partly determined by import licenses. For example, the quotas for Nicaragua and the Philippines are almost filled. The shipment to the Dominican Republic is awaiting new licenses. The expectation is that onions can be sent there again soon. Bag prices slightly under pressure The quieter sales are putting slight pressure on bag prices. This particularly applies to the medium size. In the sale of large onions, a division is beginning to emerge. Some sellers are lowering their prices slightly, while a few dare to increase them. The latter is related to the tighter supply of large onions. In addition, there are also some quality issues, so the nice large onions are somewhat limited in availability. Although bag prices are somewhat under pressure, it does not seem that this can be passed on to the purchase side. In the coming week, some onions will still be loaded from the fields, but afterward, supplies will have to come from temporary storage. Onions that need to make way for the storage of potatoes will be prioritized. After that, procurement will shift to products from onion storage. The expectation is that prices for those onions will still have to go up a bit. This will be exciting considering the current price pressure in the sales markets, some sorters and packers respond.