The downward trend in Dutch onion prices continued last week. "When supply exceeds demand, prices drop. That can have a dual impact. Buy well now and you can make a profit, but it's no fun being stuck with expensive onions," says Rinus Wisse from Wiscomex. "Things moved quickly. Small onion bag prices are now at around €0.20, the 40-60 sizes are going for about €0.22, mediums for €0.23-€0.24, and the larger onions for roughly €0.30. Those prices might decrease a further €0.02 this week. Currently, you can buy whatever you want."
"Those lower prices mean we're facing a completely different situation. The Asian market unexpectedly showed more interest and, alongside the new onions from Oceania, Dutch onions became more attractive than Chinese ones. We can still send quality onions to Asia for a few more weeks, and if the price keeps dropping, that will only increase. Then, the Eastern European wholesale markets will also come into play. Still, new crops hitting the market in countries like Spain and Egypt will offset some of those extra sales that come with the lower prices," Rinus explains.
"One way or another, we must offload a significant amount of onions this season. The long-term average shows that to reach last year's export figures, we have about 5,000 tons too much per week. We'll just conveniently count the 100,000 tons more than last year as extra waste."
"Compare the remaining ten weeks with the 2021/2022 season (when those weeks' export figures were the highest in the past seven years)," Rinus states. "Bag prices were between €0.14 and €0.19, and the average export week was 17,000 tons; we still have 2,000 tons per week too much."
"Growers have been enticed with a rosy picture for too long. It showed high prices and a resulting low export. That logically led to a situation where things collapsed. Now, those same growers will pay the price," Rinus concludes.
For more information:
Rinus Wisse
Wiscomex
23b Schoorkenszandweg
4431 NC, 's-Gravenpolder, The Netherlands
rinus@wiscomex.com
www.wiscomex.com