So far, this year's onion season has recorded an average and constant market situation. At the end of July - beginning of August, the first onions were harvested. Now the German onions from the warehouses are delivered to the domestic trade. "Quantities and prices on the market are absolutely average," says Bernhard Thissen, owner of the wholesaler of the same name in Straelen.
In this year's season, there would be a very different market situation compared to last year's campaign, in which -due to the weather conditions- only very few goods were available, which led to some extreme price increases. Currently, loose, yellow onions of common calibers in the usual range are at about €17-18 per 100 kg. "The market is calm and balanced," says Thissen.
The wholesale company, founded in the 1970s, sees itself primarily as a service provider for the domestic food retail trade and procures and packages regional products on behalf of all well-known chain stores. "In the onion area, we almost only pack in 1 or 2 kg nets, larger units, such as 5 kg, do not work at all for us," says the specialist retailer.
Fewer growers, larger acreage
In general, both onion and potato cultivation in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia is growing strongly, Thissen observes. "We source our goods from about 20 regional producers, and the number of individual producers tends to go down while existing farmers reduce less profitable products, such as cereals, in favor of expanding the area of potatoes or onions."
For more information:
Josef Thissen GmbH & Co. KG
Kartoffel- und Zwiebelgroßhandel
GF: Bernhard Thissen
Altbroekhuysen 5
47638 Straelen
T: (0 28 34) 70 97-00
F: (0 28 34) 70 97-20
info@josef-thissen.de
www.josef-thissen.de