Spain: Onion prices skyrocketing due to lack of large calibres

The new Spanish onion season started in late April in Andalusia, where about 80% of the country's total production takes place. In early May, the first Spring onions from Murcia and Valencia also arrived.

The 2014/2015 campaign has been one to forget, as despite the slight increase in the value of onions for conservation, the average prices paid were not high enough to cover production costs.

So far, the campaign has kicked off with significantly higher prices for Spring onions due to the lack of large calibres. "The quality is still very good overall, but we are not really sure why there is such a great shortage of calibres over 80 in all producing areas. I could not say it has been due to the weather, since it has been quite normal in terms of temperature and rainfall," says Alfonso Tarazona Motes, president of the Spanish Association of Exporting Onion Growers, ACEC "So far, the impact of this is noticeable in the prices, which have skyrocketed compared to those of the same period last year."

The shortage in larger sizes also has an impact on exports. According to the figures handled by ACEC, in the week between 4 and 9 May a total of 1,380,000 kilos of Spring onions were exported, which is about 400,000 fewer kilos than in the same week of 2014, when 1,700,000 kilos were exported. "In addition to the shortage, Spain's large chains have preferred to market domestic early Spring onions rather than importing from other countries, such as the Netherlands," he adds.

Furthermore, Alfonso stresses that this year much smaller volumes have been arriving to Europe from the Southern Hemisphere, mainly Chile and Argentina, and this gap can only be filled by Spain right now until Dutch onions (with their large calibres usually arriving late) hit the market. "We are now waiting to see how things will go with Ciudad Real's harvest, which usually starts in the second week of June, and which should help reduce prices. Until then, the upward trend will continue.

The Medio Grano onion harvest will continue in June and July; the Grano harvest will then start in August and last until late October. "There are rumours about a general decline in the acreage for both Grano and Medio Grano onions of between 10% and 15%," points out Alfonso Tarazona.