Nothing will change much on the onion market until the end of the year. All European producers, Italy included, have already started selling the produce stored in refrigerated units. Austria and Germany are the only ones still selling fresh produce.
These two are selling their onions at particularly low prices - 11/12 eurocent/kg - due to their abundant production. "Everyone in Europe experienced overproduction this year," reports Claudio Brintazzoli, Director of Cesac.
Yields have been incredible this year, we are talking about an average of 15/18 tons per hectare more than last year. Autumn and early yellow onions produced 60 ton/ha on average and white onions even reached 70 ton/ha.
"However, Italians consume 4/5 kg per capita a year and are buying even less onions at the moment due to the high temperatures."
This of course affects prices, which are really low at 6/8 eurocent/kg for golden onions and 12/15 eurocent/kg for white and red onions. Of course these prices are not profitable.
The situation is similar in Europe but, even though everyone is dropping prices to sell as much as possible, demand is slow. "Some Spanish white onions sell in southern Italy but that's about it. The low price of our productions means not a lot is being imported because, with similar prices, those who do buy tend to prefer domestic onions."
Everybody is waiting for temperatures to drop to push demand, but "we also need to find new market solutions and new clients. We are now working to find new destinations in North Africa, Arab countries and former Soviet countries."
And differentiation does pay off, just consider the situation the Netherlands are experiencing, as opposed to the Italian one.