French shallot prices at their lowest in years

According to a French exporter of shallots, sales of traditional shallots were good in December, “as always at this time of the year, although prices are at their lowest in many years.”

The exporter explains that the main reasons for this are “this year’s really high yield, strong competition, particularly with Dutch seed shallot varieties grown either in Central-Northern France or many European countries, and the fact that consumption appears to be dropping in many markets, like in France, which along with Belgium, Germany, the UK or Italy, is a niche market for shallots.”

Despite the difficult market conditions, the quality of the shallots is said to be excellent, “as the growing conditions have been just perfect,” affirms the company’s representative. In any case, “the weather has been unusually warm from September, and the downside of this is that storage has been difficult, as shallots are not stored in cold chambers, but in silos. Storage costs add to disastrous prices, which gives little hope to producers.”

The situation is such that growers fear the 2014 crop may not be sold out by the time the 2015 crop arrives, preventing the 2015/16 season from getting off to a good start.