Summer is in full swing in the onion market

Summer is in full swing, and the onion market is feeling it too. The market is currently in the transition from the old crop to the new crop. The disappointing outcome of the storage season has made buyers even more cautious than usual. Processors have not yet fully switched to new onions, but there is no longer much interest in onions from storage. Several processors indicate that they are happy if they can neatly meet their obligations to growers and are no longer waiting for another cell of onions to clear out. That is also partly due to the type of customer that goes after those onions. They are generally the real price buyers. In the new onions, trade is slowly getting going. Within Europe there is quite a bit of competition from local product or for example from onions from New Zealand. According to insiders, the quality of those import onions is often lacking. There are opportunities there, provided you can deliver the quality from here. Sunburn That is quite a challenge in a week like this with very warm weather. Lifting an already weak winter planted onion crop without sunburn or other damage is actually not possible in the last few days. Some growers are trying to force it, but that is quite a gamble. Because demand for onions within Europe is not particularly large, some sorters and exporters are already venturing into overseas destinations. For example, by using extra inspections by an independent party in consultation with the buyer and a temperature tag in the reefer, sellers are trying to prevent problems and claims afterwards as much as possible. The first listing of the DCA Benchmark Price for Packed Onions of the new crop comes out at an average of €30 for the medium and the coarse onions. There is relatively strong demand especially for the finer small size. If you produce 40-60 there are few small onions coming out and you are in a fairly favorable position for the 60-80. If it gets a bit cooler next week and growers also start on the spring planted onions, the expectation is that the DCA Benchmark Price for Packed Onions will come under some pressure.