"A new onion export record, but prices not reached in the season's second half"

The onion market is switching to the new season. "We sent out the last onions of the old season last week. We have slowly started with the new onions. Prices are falling, so people are buying carefully. This is characteristic for this time of year", says Gerard Hoekman van Mulder Onions from the Netherlands. 

"There is not a very large supply of new onions. There are, however, enough to meet the demand. It is hoped that Africa will pick up at the end of the month. We will be in dire need of those large volumes again", says Gerard. Meanwhile, the exporter still had plenty of import onions from New Zealand. "The market is good. Prices are noticeably more stable than last year. We mainly sell these imported onions on the German and French markets."

He looks back on a challenging year. "However, we created this ourselves in the Netherlands by growing so many onions. The demand for onions is high in the first six months of the season. We remain extremely dependent in the second half. There have been no real newcomers in recent years. We have been trying to placate countries such as Brazil. This makes us reliant on sales in Europe. That is also not simple. Eastern European countries used to start considerably earlier with Dutch onions. Now, Germany and Austria are ahead of us."

"In short, we have once again realised record export volumes. We could, however, not get the prices in the second half of the season. We will see how the new season develops. It is very dry everywhere. In the Netherlands, there are more onions seedlings and fewer onions seeds sown. So we don't expect any change here. The big question is how many fewer onions will be harvested elsewhere in the world. There are still some uncertainties about this", concludes Gerard.

For more information:
Mulder Onions BV
32 Hagenroderstraat
6464 CP Kerkrade
Tel: +31 (0) 455 678 700
Fax: + 31 (0) 455 678 708
gerard@mulder-onions.com
www.mulder-onions.com