Onion export at the end of February is just above 19,000 tons

The onion export in the last week of February amounted to just over 19,000 tons. This is evident from preliminary figures from the KCB and the GroentenFruit Huis. The second half of February was a quiet period for the Dutch onion sales. In the third week of last month, just over 17,000 tons were exported. February is often a weak month, but export volumes above 20,000 tons are needed to keep sales moving. The low sales in February have also resulted in price pressure. Beurs Zuid (formerly Beurs Goes) now quotes a cent lower for the coarser batches than at the end of February, averaging 13 cents per kilo. Especially the sales of the finer onions are proceeding slowly. This results in a price reduction of nearly 2 cents to 11 cents per kilo for these batches in the past weeks. In February, Great Britain was the main buyer of Dutch onions, with a total quantity of just over 15,000 tons. Weekly, about 3,800 tons of onions were prepared for the Brits. This makes February a strong month for the sales to Great Britain. The average weekly volume to this country has increased to 3,100 tons this season. Thus, the demand is clearly higher than last year, when 2,200 tons were exported during the same period. With over 3,500 tons, the sales to Ivory Coast recovered significantly in the last week of February. The week before there was a dip, with hardly more than 500 tons. The total export to this West African country has now risen to nearly 170,000 tons. This puts this export on track for a record. More onions to Israel Guinea and Israel were also doing well in week 9. Guinea imported almost 2,600 tons. That was less than in week 8, but more than in the weeks before. With nearly 2,000 tons, Israel was number four on the list in the last week of February. In the weeks before, few onions went to this destination. The total export has risen to 1.046 million tons by the end of last month. The lead compared to previous years is decreasing, but remains visible in the graph. The export from the 2021 harvest is the only one outside this year that passes the 1 million ton mark by the end of February.