Last week, the final onions of the old season were shipped out at Dacomex in Sint-Maartensdijk. "We've had a positive season with solid demand and strong exports, even reaching record levels to certain destinations. It was another eventful season with two price increases, one at the end of last year and another this spring, that the sharp traders managed to take advantage of," observes Maarten van Damme.
In terms of quality, the onion trader also reflects positively on the season. "Despite it being the worst growing season in years, I still believe we had good quality onions. Many of the poor batches were removed early on."
Looking ahead, Van Damme says it's still difficult to predict how the new onion season will unfold. "The crop is in good shape at the moment, but the yield of seed onions really develops in July and August. If we get another heatwave, heavy rain, or hail, things could quickly change. Nature is ahead of schedule compared to last year. The later-planted onion sets will be ready for harvest by mid-July, and I expect the planted onions to be ready earlier as well. It is on the dry side, but fortunately, many growers have access to irrigation."
While the onion season was positive, the potato market experienced the opposite. "That market really collapsed. And you'd think that with prices this low, we'd be exporting in full volume, but that hasn't been the case. In export markets, there's a lot of local product available, and in a declining market, buyers tend to wait and see, knowing that prices will likely be lower next week. In a stable or rising market, deals are made much faster," the exporter concludes. "It just goes to show that there are always surprises. At the start of the year, it looked like onion prices would fall and potato prices would rise, but the reality turned out to be the opposite."
For more information:
Maarten van Damme
Dacomex
Tel: +31 (0)166 662 550
[email protected]
www.dacomex.nl
