Optical sorting makes a world of difference for onions

The export of Dutch onions is progressing smoothly and the mood among sorters and exporters is quite positive. Meanwhile, growers are taking a look at the calendar and see that if they want to do something before Christmas, they cannot delay too long. What causes some disappointment is the quality of the onions. Not everyone has a clear idea of what the (internal) quality is. It has been mentioned before, at the beginning of the season the quality of the onions was excellent, but now that the onions have been stored for a longer time, several problems are emerging. Fusarium is this season's biggest silent killer. In the field, there was no sign of it, but after a few weeks of drying, the bottom of some of the onions in a batch turns soft. Often, it is the Polish peeling companies that are in the market for such onions, provided the price is right. However, Poland is currently almost absent from the market. This also applies to good onions. A portion of the Dutch onions that go directly from the grower to a Polish trader or processor do not appear in the official export statistics. According to various insiders, in the last few seasons, it concerned quite significant volumes that disappeared from the market through gray exports. That not much is currently going through these channels could still lead to surprises in the actual supply of onions, according to insiders. Technology knows no bounds When trade is going well, quality rejection is less likely to occur. If it gets out of hand and it genuinely starts to incur capacity costs, that can be a different story, but new technologies are coming into play. Optical sorting has really gained momentum now. Some insiders indicate that if there was a real rush with export, a batch with, for example, 12% or 15% tare cost too much capacity. Now the limits can be somewhat adjusted. As long as the onions do not get mushy and the percentage with only an internal defect remains acceptable, more and more can be sorted. Manual sorting requires highly experienced people to, as is now often the case, pick out fusarium, and often still too much slips through. The optical sorter works more precisely and detects damage faster than the human eye, although sometimes a good onion may also get included. Starting an hour earlier and going an hour longer is also just a bit easier when there does not need to be a full sorting team on the line. Automatic sorting is not only reserved for onion packers. Especially seed potato growers, but also some table potato growers have such a machine. If the machine is there, the onions can also be sorted nicely through it. Particularly in the seed potato area in the north of the Netherlands, where transportation to onion packers in the southwest is still a cost factor, every kilo of tare that does not need to be transported counts. A batch with a small defect, if the farmer first lets it go through the sorter themselves, had become a bit out of practice due to the extra work. Now that there is not a real clearing vehicle on the market, like Polish peeling operations, this might happen more this season. Slightly on the rise The DCA Benchmark Price for Packed Onions takes a small step upwards on average this week. There are fewer triplets this year. Offering sharply to get rid of the finest sizes or selling along with medium ones for Africa is not necessary. On the other side of the spectrum, it is not the case that much more can be asked for the supermarkets, of which there are not many either. The range within the benchmark prices is quite narrow.