In Spain, the harvest of fresh onions started about three weeks ago. "Overseas produce is also available to us, although the quantities are slowly dwindling. We are also already selling the first batches of large calibre Italian onions, but smaller household onions are also in our range. We will receive the first onions from the Palatinate next week," says Rudolf Lamprecht, managing director of B. Hornburger GmbH. "The Spanish onions were planted in January and February when there was still sufficient rainfall, which is why the size of the onions is normal. Good calibres are also coming from Italy, but only in small quantities."
Rudolf Lamprecht at his stand at the Munich wholesale market
Extremely high prices
"The Chilean onions showed consistently good qualities. At the beginning of the Spanish onion season, the qualities are still a bit poor, as the skin formation is not yet fully mature and the goods do not have such a long shelf life." The price has been extremely high recently, but it is gradually coming down again, he said. "I've been in the business for 33 years, but I've never seen prices this high. At the peak, the selling price was 160 EUR per 100 kg. We are still at about EUR 120 per 100 kg for Chile." Globally, he added, there are also only scarce quantities available.
In the period from 2018 to 2019, there were also high prices, but at that time onions could still be sourced from Turkey as well as Egypt. "This year, however, I have not seen a single batch from Turkey. It is probably related to the fact that the commodity is mainly needed domestically and therefore an export ban has been imposed." According to him, primarily red onions are exported to Germany from Egypt instead of yellow ones. "The variety that comes from Egypt is also not very good for the industry."
According to Lamprecht, the quantities from Chile and New Zealand were slowly running out. "We don't sell the Dutch goods until spring. In Munich, however, we mainly use the goods from Spain. Depending on how the drought will affect the sizes, we may have to fall back on the quantities from the Netherlands a little earlier.
Further Information:
Rudolf Lamprecht
B. Hornburger GmbH
Schäftlarnstr. 10
D-81371 München
Telefoon: +49 (0)89 77 43 91
info@hornburger.de
www.hornburgergmbh.de