The world's number one onion packer and exporter says the secret to the Netherland's dominance in the global market is down to the low cost of transporting the produce.
Wiskerke Onions from the Netherlands, produces one million consumer packs per month. This year its volume is on track to reach 172,000 tonnes, with more 16 per cent of the country's market share. Third generation company owner, Jacob Wiskerke, visited Hort Connections in Adelaide, telling the conference that the convenience of the shipping situation out of ports in Rotterdam and Antwerp has helped put his country as the number one onion exporter for the past 60 years.
"For a trip to Paris, France, it is 400 kilometres (from the company's pack house), we pay 1,000 Euros, we put 25 tonnes in the truck, so it's four cents a kilo," Mr Wiskerke said. "But to sell to Santos in Brazil, it is 10,000 kilometres, 25 times further than Paris. However, the shipping company, because they want all their containers in South America, they nearly give them for free. So at the moment we pay 500 Euros, house to house. That's not even two cents. It's such a low price that we are lower than the cost price of growing in some countries."
Mr Wiskerke says The Netherlands has 3,000 onion growers nation-wide, with 25,000 hectares, but it is only two per cent of world production.
"It is nothing compared to countries like China, India, U.S, but in exports we are number one" he said. "The reason for that is we consume only 10 per cent our self. So 90 per cent has to be exported, which also gives us pressure. So it can happen that when no other country has a shortage, it can be difficult some years. When there is a lot of shortage, prices can go very high. If there is world competition, we can compete because we have the lowest cost from field to port."
Two other secrets to the onion industry's success, according to Mr Wiskerke, are the professional set up of the supply chain, and the logistical proximity due to the country's size. But there is always a focus on performance, and those who cannot find ways to lower costs are being squeezed out.
"The Netherlands is a special country in the way onions are grown - the grower never packs the onions," he said. "It's the country where the separation between the growers and the packers is so strong. But you have to be lean and mean to survive. Through the years you can say regularly one company falls off. So the people with the lowest costs, and doing the best job, they can continue."
He says most countries can be reached from the port of Rotterdam within 35 days, but during that time it is important to ensure the quality of the product during the trip. He has welcomed new refrigerated containers that will be available in coming months, allowing the company stay in control of the travelling conditions, especially to hotter climates.
"We will be able to see in, the office, the temperature in the container and the humidity," Mr Wiskerke said. "The system makes it possible for us to change the settings while the boat is sailing."
The company has recently launched its own mobile app, allowing customers to not only track their order with regularly updated shipping times, but access a whole range of data and product information. They have access to who grew the onions, and how it was grown as well as documentation from lab reports.
But Mr Wiskerke believes having a 25-30% supply to retail is the ideal option, because it allows him to switch underdeveloped produce to the export market, giving it more time to mature. The company only has one customer per wholesale market and one customer per country, so it is not creating competition with its own product.
The former owner admits there are quite a few challenges on the export market, including countries that become overprotective of their own growers.
"In Senegal, when they don't have their own onions, they import eight million kilos from the Netherlands per week, he said. "But when they have their own product, they close the borders. I don't believe that if you start looking at a country, it is not good, because when they close the border, for the grower it is easy, but they don't improve. There is no competition, and people only get strong from competition."
The company is now in the hands of the fourth generation of the family, after Jacob sold it to his daughter, Chayenne, who is the Chief Executive. Wiskerke Onions has high hopes for the future of onion production, with predictions that by 2050 that the quantity of onions in the world will double, meaning a greater share for the Netherlands.
"Is it possible to have two billion kilos?" Mr Wiskerke previously asked his daughter. "She laughed at me, and said 'I cannot imagine'. But if you were to ask me if I could imagine exporting 1.1 billion, I would have said it's not possible."
Jacob Wiskerke
Wiskerke Onions
Phone: +31 113 38 22 10