"EU: "Possible boycot Senegal and precarious quality threat to onion market"

Although the onion market seemed to revive very carefully in December it has again been very quiet since the last week of December. "There is a suggestion that Senegal will close its borders on 31 January, which is a month earlier than usual" buyer William Nannes of Beemsterboer from Warmenhuizen says.

"This decision hangs like the sword of Damocles over the market, because there are no alternatives. "The export figures are still better than last year, but if Senegal really closes its borders then export will fall away. Other years the export to Eastern Europe and Russia nicely followed that of Senegal, but now it does not look like it. Especially now when they have transport problems," William continues.The present price which is being paid for onions is about 2 to 3 Euro for the good lots. The buyer calls the quality of the onions precarious. "There are actually four categories: 25% really bad (not suitable for export), 25% reasonable (10-20% tare), 25% reasonably good lots (less than 10% tare) and 25% good, clean lots suitable for all destinations:" William sums up."Last year there were many quality problems with onions, but these problems were easy to see and therefore easier to solve. Now there are many subcutaneous problems, but these will become clear later in the season. There is a lot of rubbish in the market. I have already heard of packers who obtain their onions from France," the importer says.All in all it looks rather gloomy. Growers do not earn a cent, packers are not having an easy time either at the moment and for us exporters margins are terribly thin," William concludes.