"There's not much happening on the onion market at the moment," says Ewald Gouwenberg of onion sorting and packing station Waterman Onions from Emmeloord, The Netherlands. "I expect more pep in the market at the end of December. The European productions are lower and demand should come from this. The winter weather can also be key. The quality of the onions is generally good. There are some parties with problems, but there are enough good onions available."
"The market will certainly give us perspective on the long term, but we just have to be patient. There are onions heading to Asia and Africa. The export to South America and the Caribbean is at a lower level at the moment, but this is usual for this time of year. The bale prices are around 15-16 Euro at the moment, and slightly higher for the triplets," says Ewald. "The expectation for the export to the United Kingdom and more southern European countries such as France and Spain are reasonably good. The harvest is a lot lower there. There is already trade heading that way."
"The East Block is slowly starting to inform as well. This is due to the fact that, for instance, the Polish growers are unwilling to sell, which means their traditional buyers, the surrounding countries for one, are coming to us. The transport costs for sales in that market are, however, still often a problem," continues Ewald. "But it's often not easy to buy from the Dutch growers. They too smell possibilities of an increase in price with the high potato prices in mind."
"The market for organic onions has had considerable quality problems, mainly among the reds. The United Kingdom is leading the market with extremely high prices, because there simply aren't enough good parties available," concludes the Waterman Onions salesman.