Finding a market for an entire batch of onions is an art

Supply and demand are not in balance in onion exports. Beautiful supermarkets can quickly be lost as a sorter. Large and small onions are also in demand. However, when sorting a batch, a portion also always goes out as medium onions. It is indeed hard to find a buyer for those. Things are not too wild in the onion trade. The export figures are naturally a few weeks behind. The trend since the start of the year is that weekly exports fluctuate around the five-year average. That is decent in itself, but given the relatively large harvest last season, various insiders believe that exports should be above average to break even by the end of the season. We can also note that the quality is not great everywhere. Perhaps a little more will fall off than some traders are currently anticipating. With a moderately progressing export and especially moderate prices for the onions in bags, stories about rejections are also surfacing. Especially processors with relatively many fixed obligations secured something above €20 last autumn and winter. Those onions are now suffering. Not all batches of onions are free from problems. Is there a search for a flaw to reject the expensive onions, or is it really outrageous what problems are present in the batch? This sometimes leads to discussions between the grower and the buyer. Demand for very coarse or very fine It sometimes seems that all is doom and gloom in the onion market these weeks, but that is not entirely true either. As mentioned: there is demand for supermarkets. There is also definitely market for good sprout-free small onions suitable for a longer transit. However, sales are stalled for the mediums. A 40-60 or 45-65 is simply hard to sell. Some traders are currently getting a higher price for triplets than for their fine medium onions. Partly, the scarcity in small onions and jumbo onions is also a sign that not much volume is being processed at the sorting companies. What also plays a role is that despite the rather dry growing season, the onions are fairly uniform in size sorting. There are not many very fine onions quickly found in a batch, just as there is not a large portion of coarse. The DCA Packed Onions Benchmark Price remains unchanged this week. Still, there are some shifts within the range. Small onions are leaning more toward €16 than €15 this week. Mediums 40-60 and 45-65 are leaning more towards €15. There is also supply below €15, but according to insiders, these are medium onions with a story. On the other side of the spectrum, €27 at the top end for jumbo onions is also participating. Traders say it does not come easy, but for really nice onions, it is accepted.