This year's marketing season of Italian onions is now in the starting blocks. In a good two weeks, starting on May 24, the first products from the southern Italian growing region will be available. The brown and red onions will generally be on offer until July, i.e. until the start of the harvest in the Palatinate, according to Daniel Voll, Managing Director of Vau-Ge Voll GmbH based in Bobenheim-Roxheim in the Palatinate and exclusive supplier of the established onion brand Bella Italia.
The company began growing onions in Calabria in the Crotone area 35 years ago now when Daniel Voll, together with his father, made initial contacts with farmers there. "The cultivation of brown onions had no tradition at all in the region, and our five contract farmers are still the only ones involved in onion production to date. In this respect, we have done pure pioneering work. But that also means that we first had to gain experience and conduct very many variety trials, since the varieties we grow in the Palatinate didn't work here at all."
These investments have nevertheless borne fruit: "Because today we are able to supply German onions for ten months of the year and fill the gap from mid-May to mid-July with our Italian onions," describes the onion merchant.
Daniel Voll, managing director of Vau-Ge GmbH. The Italian onions are harvested in three different harvest windows.
Moderate quantities and pleasing qualities expected
About 70 percent of the Italian onions (red and brown) go to German packers, who in turn supply food retailers throughout Germany. Voll: "The rest is exported mainly to France, Austria and Switzerland. In German supermarkets, the product is mainly sold under the Bella Italia private label. According to Daniel Voll, the signs at the beginning of the new season are very positive. We are expecting a moderate harvest volume with pleasing qualities."
From today's perspective, Voll believes that there will be sufficient quantities in both the pack (40 to 70 mm) and butcher's onions (70+) segments. Marketing-wise, the Italian product meets a relatively tightly supplied and high-priced market. "There are still remaining quantities of alternative onions from Germany as well as from the Netherlands. However, we are in direct competition with New Zealand in terms of price. Overall, we expect a good marketing season."
Increasing demand for premium onions
Even though the marketing window of Italian onions is relatively short, demand is usually continuously high and stable, he said. "We note that sales volumes have been steadily increasing in recent years. At pandemic times, demand was also steady, with demand merely shifting from wholesale markets to food retailers. I don't think inflation is having much of an impact on the onion business either, even though Bella Italia onions are more premium. Onions are the queen of the kitchen and a basic component of the shopping basket," he concludes.
Further information:
Daniel Voll
Vau-Ge GmbH
Roxheimer Straße 24
67240 Bobenheim-Roxheim
Phone: +49 (0 62 39) 60 43
Fax: +49 (0 62 39) 31 96
Mail: vaugezwiebeln@vau-ge.de
Web: www.vau-ge.de