"Red onions have a lot of growth potential"

With his specialization in red onions, Carl van de Wiel from packing station Agro Centre Holland in Langeweg didn’t consciously go for the bulk market ten years ago. "When you start your business, it’s virtually impossible to compete against the big sorting companies. But the red onions gave me an edge. For many grading and packing stations, the red onions are a minor product and most customers like to see a company that actually specializes in them. And red onions could use a specialist too. They need more attention than the usual yellow onions.”

Mindset
The pricing of red onions is completely different from that of their yellow siblings. "I always thought that the lower limit price of red onions was the price of the yellow onions, but last year this wasn’t the case, and many packers were left with red onions, as there was no market for them. That market is gradually disappearing. However, there is more demand for coarse onions now. That is why it is so important that a change is made in the mindset of growers. They shouldn’t just go for quality, but for coarseness as well. There are too few coarse, red onions available in the Netherlands, while there sure is a market for them."

Similar volumes
Agro Centre Holland exports about 75% of the red onions directly. Over the years, Carl has seen the marketing of coarse onions increase. One example is England, where consumption of red onions is a lot higher than in the Netherlands. The English red onion acreage is a whopping 25% of onion production. According to Carl, competition from producing countries like Egypt is relatively modest. "Egypt is on the market at our end of the season. Often our quality is waning at this point, and customers tend to switch to Egyptian onions. More competition comes from the pink Crimsun onion. Previously there were a great many small red onions going to the Caribbean, but that market is completely taken over now."

This year's red onion acreage in the Netherlands is slightly smaller. "But the yields will be a bit higher, so the available volumes will be similar to last year’s," says Carl. "On average, the onions are somewhat coarser this year, so that's a big advantage.”

More information:
Agro Centre Holland
Carl van de Wiel
W: www.red-onion.nl