Things are feeling slightly different in onion supply right now. "We were really short and then Texas came on and there was some Mexican product so April had more supply than I had anticipated," says Jessica Peri of Peri & Sons Farms. "However now I'm starting to feel that supply in Mexico has pretty much been cleaned up and there's not much left in Texas."
While there is still storage crop onions coming from various parts of the country, including the Pacific Northwest, in terms of fresh crop, this puts greater demand pressure for the Southern California crop from the Imperial Valley on all colors. (Though this may be especially the case on red onion supply, which is seeing historical pricing at the moment.) "This is the week where more supply is available from California–we even started a second shift so we'll double our capacity for this week so that should help," says Peri.
Imperial Valley sizing
She also notes that with the conventional crop, downy mildew affected most of the Valley and it was assumed that sizing across the board would be small. However, that doesn't seem to be the case. While sizing is off, there seem to be plenty of jumbos though not colossals. Supers are also not abundant.
As for demand, it is strong. "I anticipate that it will soften once we get up to Central California in the San Joaquin Valley in June. More growers and more acreage are being grown," says Peri.
That's leaving pricing good, thanks partly to the stronger demand. "I think it's going to remain strong through May on yellows and reds at those historical highs," says Peri. "There will be some relief because the Central Valley/San Joaquin area will start harvesting summer sweet reds. That may take a little pressure off the market."
For more information:
Jessica Peri
Peri & Sons Farms
Tel: +1 (775) 463-4444
[email protected]
http://www.periandsons.com/