The onion planting returns for New Zealand growers are expected to be similar to last year or even a little better, according to John Molloy, of Molloy Farms. “A cold snap in the spring also caused about 5-10% of the onions to bolt, and we had a very dry summer, when some later crops suffered from lack of water, meaning sizes were not so big,” he says.
The flipside of the dry summer was that conditions for harvesting were ideal, and cosmetically the onions are ‘looking good’ according to Mr Molloy. “Other markets become interested when they see that New Zealand onions are fresh.”
The majority of New Zealand’s onion crop is marked for export, with more than 50% bound for Europe, and another chunk headed to Asia. Apart from some decline in smaller markets, Mr Molloy expects volumes and flow to remain reasonably stable. The biggest difficulty is size, according to him, which is a seasonal problem. “At the moment it’s difficult to find an outlet for some specific sizes. We have very good demand for large onions, around 80mm in diameter, and good demand for medium and smaller sizes, but the in between sizes are more difficult, the 60-80mm sizes.”
Market prices have been ‘badly affected’ by currency fluctuations, according to Mr Molloy, but he still expects that most producers will yield similar financial returns to what they received last year. “Nett returns to New Zealand producers should remain at the same levels as they were last year,” he says.
Plantings are expected to do well despite an overall area about 6% less than what it was last year.
For more information:
John Molloy
Molloy Farms
E-mail: johnmolloy@molloyfarms.co.nz
Website: www.molloyfarms.co.nz