Konaxx Trade BV from the Friesian Sint Jacobiparochie area is a sorting, packaging and export company for Dutch onions, potatoes, cabbage and carrots. "But onions are our main product," says Tjerk Nagel. Every year 25,000 tonnes of onions are sorted and packaged at Konaxx, which has been around since 1917. The packagings vary from 500 grams to 25 kg, big bags and bulk. Important buyers are supermarkets, wholesalers and processing companies in Scandinavia, Russia, Central Europe, the Baltic States and Libya.
According to the exporter, the onion market is looking a bit more friendly at the moment. "The demand is quite wide, mainly from Central and South America. Within Europe there isn't really a country that stands out. Russia is only taking what it needs. The export to Russia is much more structured than in the past. But despite the market being more structured, the total volume is decreasing. The 'cowboy time' of sending full boats seems to be over."
The field crop prices at the moment vary between 9 and 11 cents. According to Tjerk, the onion farmers are very hesitant in selling their product. "They want to get more for their product. Due to the low temperature many growers think that their products will remain good for a long time. I myself fear that this could turn around if we suddenly have higher temperatures, but many growers disregard this as salesman talk, but we'll see what the future brings." According to the sorter, the current quality is still acceptable. "But that's all. And although I'd rather not say this, we're having more quality problems up here in the North than in the South."
Konaxx has developed a plan to give the quality of the onions a boost, in collaboration with a group of regular growers. "The quality of the onions here in Friesland has suffered due to the higher yields. Ten, fifty years ago we had less kilos per hectare, but much better onions, which were a lot stronger. We have a good basis here for a good storable product, with a clay ground, but that extra 15 tonnes per hectare has to come from somewhere," says the exporter.
"But for the last three years it has worked against us, which has meant we haven't been able to harvest the onions under the most ideal of circumstances. This is why we have started a project with a number of growers, to sow 40-60 hectares of onion early, with special fertiliser, to - albeit with less kilos - be able to harvest earlier (mid August - beginning of September) and get good quality onions in as early as possible," says Tjerk.
For more information:
Konaxx
Tjerk Nagel
Mob: 06-54976885
[email protected]
www.konaxx.nl
Konaxx has developed a plan to give the quality of the onions a boost, in collaboration with a group of regular growers. "The quality of the onions here in Friesland has suffered due to the higher yields. Ten, fifty years ago we had less kilos per hectare, but much better onions, which were a lot stronger. We have a good basis here for a good storable product, with a clay ground, but that extra 15 tonnes per hectare has to come from somewhere," says the exporter.
"But for the last three years it has worked against us, which has meant we haven't been able to harvest the onions under the most ideal of circumstances. This is why we have started a project with a number of growers, to sow 40-60 hectares of onion early, with special fertiliser, to - albeit with less kilos - be able to harvest earlier (mid August - beginning of September) and get good quality onions in as early as possible," says Tjerk.
For more information:
Konaxx
Tjerk Nagel
Mob: 06-54976885
[email protected]
www.konaxx.nl
