"The crops are on time, but are desperately short of water," according to Colin Galbraith from Moorhouse & Mohan. "The growers can't get enough water on the fields. Temperatures of between 24°C and 30°C make it difficult to irrigate enough and there is a limit to how quick you can get the water on, it has been very dry in the area, there have been some sharp showers but not enough substantial rainfall. The soil in the area does not retain moisture well."
Colin explained that it is very difficult to say what yields will be, as it will differ from area to area, field to field even, depending on how much water the growers can get on the crop, this will also affect sizing and therefore volumes. If the present weather continues they will likely be very storable due to the dry conditions.
Some growers are now saying they have to irrigate just to stop the plants dying before the onions size up, it's only August now and harvest is not due until September.
"The season started off with very good conditions, especially when compared to last year, but now we have a very unusual situation with the heat and lack of water which is not working in the grower's favour and the present weather conditions are expected to last 10-14 days."
It is important for the growers to have good sizes, otherwise they won't get the price they need. 50-80mm are the sizes needed to hit the prime market.
Supply and demand
"Demand is never great at this time of the year, but onions sales are alright, not particularity cheap, but prices have come down from the import season and are holding up at a reasonable level," said Colin.
"There are not that many sets being grown and the Dutch crop is a bit behind so the market has not been flooded. What is really missing at the moment are red onions. These mature a bit later and there is a bit of a gap this year between Egyptian, Southern Hemisphere and the Northern Hemisphere crop."
Spain came in with some red onions which were mainly in the supermarkets, but more will arrive within the next 2-3 weeks from the UK and other Northern European sources, according to Colin.
Spanish Onions
Spanish Onions are running on the main Granos slightly under size due to hot temperatures and the inability to irrigate sufficiently. The exception is the Zaragoza region where weather has been kinder.
"Yields will be down but not to the extent to cause a shortage so Spain, when it reaches the stored onion period in the near future, will see prices at good levels but not dramatically high and not dramatically low," explains Colin.
At the moment the market is being over supplied especially with early Granos and Medo Granos which are not suitable for storage and as individual growers need to turn crops to cash, but that will disappear as the larger growers who have stored onions supply the market.
In the UK overall acreage is about the same as last year, when despite the bad start and fears of small sizes, growers left the onions in the ground longer and ended up with a lot of big sizes, but this is not likely to happen again this year because it is so dry.
The volume last season for UK bulb onions was 466,000 tonnes.
Moorhouse & Mohan exported onions from the UK into eastern Europe last year, and Colin says demand is still there this year so it is possible they will go again. The export is for specific sizes and types primarily for retailers.
For more information:Colin Galbraith
Moorhouse & Mohan
Tel: 0044 7967077118
Email: colin@moorhousemohan.co.uk