The Netherlands main onion supplier for Brazil in 2015

Last year large amounts of Dutch onions were sold on the Brazilian market. In the calendar year 2015 it was an amount of around 126,000 tonnes. This was considerably more than the 15,000 tonnes in 2014. Both year previous to this were slightly more at 40,000 and the year previous to that were smaller amounts. This shows in figures by Fruit & Vegetable Facts.

The main reason was that the Netherlands was filling the hole left by the smaller supply of Argentinian onions. in 2015 Brazil only imported 80,000 tonnes of Argentinian onions. In 2014 it was already less than before. Over the course of the years the import from Argentina has varied strongly. 2010 was the peak year with an import of over 210,000 tonnes. The total Brazilian onion import was of record size in 2015 at 270,000 tonnes. Only that of 2013 at 267,000 tonnes was almost as big, but all other years it was less. Last year it wasn't just the Dutch onions that were profiting from the larger Brazilian demand. The import of Spanish onions was much larger than before at 46,000 tonnes. The import from Chile was also significantly larger than previous years in 2015 at 17,000 tonnes, but Chile was previously able to sell similar amounts in Brazil, incidentally.

Smaller amounts were imported from New Zealand, Peru, Belgium and Portugal. According to FAO figures, Brazil produces around 1.5 million tonnes of onions each year. They are hardly exported: less than 5,000 tonnes in 2015.

Centre of import usually in spring
The centre of the Brazilian onion import is usually at the same time as spring on the northern hemisphere. The largest amount of Dutch onions by far are imported in the period March-June. What was striking was that the import of Dutch onions continued after this. In September there was even a revival. This was also the case in December. In the spring of 2015 Brazil was worth around a third of the entire Dutch onion export.

In previous years the import in Brazil pretty much dropped out after July and April and May were the peak months. In April 2013 almost 90,000 tonnes was imported, of which 70,000 from Brazil and 12,000 tonnes from the Netherlands. Out of almost all important Brazilian onion suppliers only the import pattern of the Chilean onions is different. Chilean products is mainly on the market in the second half of the calendar year, when it's spring in the southern hemisphere.

More information:
Fruit & Vegetable Facts
Jan Kees Boon
+31 6 54 687 684
E: fruitvegfacts@gmail.com
www.fruitandvegetablefacts.com