The new onion set harvest has begun, but sales are still somewhat sluggish at the moment. "This is the case every year around this time. July is never really a busy month. The market is still depressed. Customers are not yet desperate for onions and therefore only order what they really need. That takes time. When the downturn is over - which in my view can happen at any time - I expect the demand to pick up quickly," says Maarten van Damme van Dacomex uit Sint-Maartensdijk. .
"At the moment, there is already some demand from the United Kingdom and Africa, but precisely at those destinations there are still old onions in the way. There were still more of them than everyone thought and there are customers who, as long as the quality is still good, opted for a cheaper alternative. It is to be hoped that when the market stabilises and demand picks up again, we will also have the logistical possibilities to get our product to the customer. The problem of the container shortage is stubborn and hangs over the market like a sword of Damocles."
There seem to be plenty of onions this year, as evidenced by the 11.3% increase in seed onion acreage according to CBS. "There will be some product lost here and there due to some water damage, but 11% more is still a lot. So there will be a lot of work to do,” the exporter observes. "Hopefully we will end up with a decent price, so that both the grower and the trade will have a good season. At the moment the price in the bale is between 21 and 22 cents, but as said, everyone is very cautious."
"Qualitatively, the first planting onions are looking good. The weather conditions have been good and there is a beautiful product coming in. It is still difficult to predict what the main harvest of the seed onions will do. Here and there some water spots from the wet early summer are already visible. But the weather in August will be the determining factor. If we get a nice dry month, we expect to have a beautiful quality at our disposal. If it rains and we have to 'rob' the onions from the land, you could have problems throughout the season, but we're not counting on that for the time being!
Voor meer informatie:
Dacomex 
Maarten van Damme
+31 166 662 550
maarten@dacomex.nl
www.dacomex.nl