Movement ahead of Thanksgiving was good for onions–a key ingredient in many dishes featured during this popular cooking holiday. "We had a lot of momentum with sales when we were harvesting because we had a pretty big crop and we had to make room in our shed. So we had a lot of sales going out that carried into Thanksgiving," says Jessica Peri of Peri & Sons Farms.
That is leaving the company now in an oversold position going into the first of the year. "The crop that we're in now, we harvest them in the fall and then they go into these large storage buildings. This crop has to last until the end of April," Peri says, adding that the company is shipping onions from Yerington, Nevada. "This oversold position gives us a little more confidence to begin raising our prices and monitoring what we sell each week until this crop is done."
Industry-wide however, there's still plenty of product, particularly on yellow and red onions and reviews are mixed on quality across the board.
© Peri & Sons
2024 vs. 2025
This is quite different from last year at this time when the national onion crop was significantly smaller. That meant supply was being managed to ensure product was available throughout the season. "This seemed to be the case for a lot of shippers last year. Onions are funny. They seem to do the same thing wherever they're grown. If there's a bumper crop in one area, all areas are going to have a bumper crop," says Peri.
As for pricing, pricing on the company's number ones right now are higher than the overall market prices given the oversold situation. "I think that's due to quality as well," says Peri, noting that pricing is lower across the board industry-wide. "I think there's just higher demand for our premium products."
Is that pricing anticipated to shift? That largely depends on if weather events affect some upcoming crops, such as Mexico's. That would strengthen demand for U.S. product. "It's just a basic supply and demand situation," says Peri. "There hasn't been a lot of export either, which I think has hurt some of the shippers out of Washington. They rely a lot on export."
For more information:
Jessica Peri
Peri & Sons Farms
Tel: +1 (775) 463-4444
http://www.periandsons.com/
