Pricing continues to be stronger for onions given that supply is on the shorter side. “White onions definitely seem to be the shortest. That’s what is trading at the highest dollars at the moment,” says Jessica Peri of Peri & Sons Farms.
The onion market will likely continue to stay this way for some time. “I don’t know exactly when there’s going to be any relief,” she says, adding that there is a crop coming up from Tampico, Mexico though onions look to be short in Mexico generally as well. “A lot of times that crop in Tampico will make its way to the U.S. because that’s what it’s grown for. However, if there’s demand in Mexico, sometimes it just stays there and doesn't make it to the U.S.”
For Peri & Sons, availability has also come on for Sunions, its tearless sweet onions, as well as its company-branded sweet onions though production has finished on its Sweetie Sweets onions. “There also seems to be a bit of a sweet onion shortage,” says Peri. “Peru had a tough growing season so that also made the market short because they didn’t import as much as they normally would have.”
Growing regions update
Generally at this time of the year, the overall onion supply is slightly greater. Peri says part of the slimmer volume is Mexico’s tighter supply. “Potentially yields could have also been down across the board,” she says. “We had average growing regions--nothing below average but certainly there wasn’t a bumper crop. There was quite a bit of rain in some areas such as Idaho and Oregon close to harvest and I don’t know if that impacted quality.” It’s also not known if the cull rate is higher than it would normally be which would also impact supply.
As for demand, January is a good demand month for onions thanks in part to New Year’s resolution prompting healthier cooking and eating. “There’s also a little bit of a Super Bowl bump for white onions typically but that usually kind of trails off for February and March,” says Peri.
On pricing, it’s anticipated to stay strong until a new production area comes on that can truly make an impact on supply--at this point, that looks to be the San Joaquin Valley in June-July.
For more information:
Jessica Peri
Peri & Sons Farms
Tel: +1 (775) 463-4444
jessicaperi@periandsons.com
http://www.periandsons.com/