"A lot of onion growers still growing on good faith"

The planting onion season is coming to an end. "We have gone through the planting onions this week and will switch to the seeding onions," says Leon van Meir. According to the packager from Steenbergen the yield differences in the planting onions, in particular in the south west, were very big. "This varies from 30 tonnes in the dry areas to 70-80 tonnes in the irrigated plots. This matters in the big picture."

"The situation is calm this week. I expect the market to pull up a little over the coming week. Customers wait with ordering if the price is under pressure. Triplets are particularly hard to place," says Leon. "There is supply from farmers. Yet a lot of onion growers continue to grow on good faith. This sometimes results in a skewed image if onions are supplied in four places."

Planting onions - the early ones in particular - were also bothered by the drought in Wallonia, where Van Meir has a considerable area. "It was much drier there," says Leon. He finds it hard to predict what the new onion year will bring. "The quality of the planting onions wasn't great. The seeding onions are of better quality, but a lot of them have been affected by thrips in the south west and there are a lot of plots that won't make their yield."

"At the moment around 7 cents is paid for seeding onions off the land. But the onion market is like the weather - unpredictable. The situation in Brazil and Argentina, for instance, is of great influence on our export. Last year was a good production year globally and the prices were under pressure across the globe. There is always a response to this and that offers opportunities."

For more information:
Van Meir Onions & Potatoes
Boonhil 8
4651 VW Steenbergen
T: +31 (0)167 542 220
F: +31 (0)167 542 228
info@vanmeir.nl
www.vanmeir.nl