About a week and a half ago the onion market saw an increase in prices. The price, depending on the quality, is between 26 and 28 cents per kilo. "But in order to buy in you must consider going for 25 cents", concludes Andre van Damme of Dacomex from Holland. It is the same old story, the advantage is with the grower and not with the traders. Growers with stock have it on their side every time."
"The market rumours are that the Dutch onion market is low in stock and that we won't have enough. That may be, but I wonder can you keep adequate demand with this price level. The price increase is due to supply, because it is not as if there is a huge demand", says Andre. "There is tension in the market. There are quite a few sorters that have stopped or are running on half steam. This creates a partition between sorters that have good stock in a good position and a section without any stock who try to do business on the market.
"There are exports, in particular to Eastern-Europe, Russia and to the Ukraine through Poland. But the price level is reasonably high for Eastern-Europe and there are also cut offs that find these prices to risky. The African market is as good as cut off. The activity by exporters is also not so great any more, the product is more worn out than other years and then you get these risks with the prices. Traditionally around this time for two weeks Eastern-Europe takes in onions from southern country's such as Egypt and Turkey. The question is whether this can be a brake on the price hike. It will be May this week. If demand falls off then there will be a panic reaction", concludes Andre.