DCA Packed Onions Benchmark Price remains under pressure

The big players with sorting and export activities report having quite a bit of work at the moment. For the smaller companies, it is tough. All in all, a smaller demand is putting ongoing pressure on selling prices. The customer base of the various companies means that the differences between sorters and packers are significant. Are you rotating onions primarily for export to Africa, or do you have a well-filled portfolio with mainly retail customers? Retail is willing to pay a bit more for the best quality, and that means that sorters and packers in this segment face less price pressure. Companies that are largely dependent on exports to Africa, on the other hand, are experiencing significant pressure on prices. More and more countries are closing their borders to protect local production (Senegal and Gambia) or are raising import duties (Mauritania). This means that the volumes going to Africa are significantly smaller than a few weeks ago. Moreover, operations are being conducted at a sharp edge. It’s take it or leave it, responds an onion sorter. “Buyers make an offer and you accept it; otherwise, they go to someone else. There’s no room for a counteroffer. There’s always someone willing to do it cheaper,” he explains the current situation. To keep enough work for the available staff, an order is reluctantly taken on. Lack of demandAll sorters realize that further lowering selling prices will not lead to greater exports at this time. There simply is a lack of demand during this period. Since Senegal has left the market, the sales have barely reached half. The wait is on for European destinations to take over the baton. However, there are currently more than enough onions available for sale in Europe. Austria is mainly mentioned as a strong price competitor. But onions are also being traded in Germany for lower prices than in the Netherlands. The advantage for the Austrians is that they are also located closer to European destinations, allowing them to benefit from a few cents in transport savings. The quantity of lower-quality onions hanging over the market also does not help to lift market prices. Poland wants the onions but doesn't want to pay more than 3 to 6 cents per kilo. Onions are going that way for these prices, but it is completely insufficient to clear the market at the lower end as was the case last year. Bulk onions prices drop slightly furtherThe result of all this is that the DCA Packed Onions Benchmark Price will drop further this week. For triplets, the price drops by 50 cents to €17 per 100 kilos. It is noted that prices for this sorting vary widely. It depends on how many onions a company has in this size to sell and whether there are customers for them. The differences are significant. One has a surplus, another has a shortage. One sorter confidently says, “You have to dump those onions.” This week, some sorters report loading slightly more onions into containers for Ivory Coast because a ship is canceled next week. This directly means that there is somewhat less demand for medium-sized onions next week. The prices for this sorting remain under pressure and drop this week by 50 cents to €18 per 100 kilos. The selling price for 40-60 millimeters is often lower, while the size 50-70 is mainly sold for €18.50 to €19 per 100 kilos. The larger onions are suffering somewhat from the reduced sales of the medium size. The sorting for 60-80 millimeters drops to around €20 per 100 kilos. Depending on the customer base and quality of the onions (are there papers or not), prices vary from €19 to €24 per 100 kilos. The same applies to the supers, where prices vary from €22 to €26 per 100 kilos. The DCA bulk price for these onions decreases by 50 cents to €24.50 per 100 kilos.