"The Dutch onion sector has great trump cards with good quality and the right price"

Even though the onion exporters are positive about the business, he remains vigilant. “The harvest is large in Europe. We should not be too forward, because our position is strongly dependent of the world market. Senegal is opening on the 22nd of August and due to the Tabaski celebration, many onions can be supplied in Africa. Today’s market is already outdated, so we have to look forward to the period after the Tabaski celebration. We have many plates to keep spinning with our global export, thus we are less dependent on the European market. Despite everything, we still need the global export markets during the coming season.” 

“The global onion market looks different this season. The harvest from India and China are good and their prices are low. That’s why we have to stay alert. The past two years, Brazil was a good customer, but Brazil is not in the market now. Their onion acreage has increased rapidly and their volumes are higher than the past few years. Fortunately, we can sell our onions in Panama again. The Netherlands shall have to keep working to find (new) markets.”

“Last year, we had high prices and bad quality. Later on in the season we had some hitches. It is still early, but the quality we can see in the polders makes me happy. There are some structural problems in the south west, but the lots here produce the best onions in the Netherlands,” says Erik. “Besides, we had less extreme weather conditions in the polder, and the growing season went reasonably well.” 

 

“The first sets or seedling onions have been harvested. These will be a little later on the market, allowing for more room of the planting onions. The bale price depends on the sorting and quality and is 20 to 25 cents per kilo. I expect a reasonable pricing with the export we have. If the supply increases in the near future, we will have to see how the market develops itself. The price/quality ratio has to stay perfect, because we have to remain competitors on global level,” says Erik. 

It is remarkable that the other coloured onions are advancing, according to the onion exporter. “The supply and demand of red onions is increasing and the percentage will be larger too. The onion has various uses for various dishes, just like the tomato. We can see that the Dutch home cook uses the colours of the international cuisine, which is a fun development.”

He emphasizes that they will have many challenges in increasing the image of the Dutch onion. “Until now, we have been looking at the onion mainly with regard to volume and price, despite all that the onion will be a commodity product. That is why it is important to see if the onion is sexy. We could ask questions such as: Is the onion healthy? And: Which interesting nutrients does the onion contain? And: how can we present the onion even better? These questions should be more important!” says Erik. 

For more information:

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