The onion market is very quiet at this time of year. So far, 2021 is seamlessly following on from last year: "Last year was pleasantly trouble-free for the onion sector, despite the pandemic," says a trader from southern Germany.
For both yellow and red onions, he says, prices are currently stable: "Even in the next two months, this will probably not change."
German onion stocks are slowly but surely going down. "There are still some producers who will be able to stretch their goods through March, April and May, but I expect there will be additional purchases from the Netherlands and France."
The focus is on European goods, the expert knows: "People are trying to keep the sales window for New Zealand onions shorter and shorter, which is a clear trend on the German market. In the spring, all supermarkets in Germany, including the discounters, will try to trade German and European onions for as long as possible. Only in May and June there will then again be an upswing for goods from New Zealand and -in smaller quantities- form Australia and Tasmania. In the organic sector, goods from Egypt are also being traded." Although currently there are smaller New Zealand volumes on the market in Europe as well, these are not yet relevant to the market.
The trader sees an early Italian production as an alternative to overseas onions: "Unfortunately, the available volumes of early onions from Italy are relatively small. Compared to New Zealand, Italy has a large domestic demand and not enough onions for export to cover the German demand before the seasonal change."