Featured image: Nyssa, OR onion crop progress, photo posted by Eagle Eye Produce on Instagram on August 13
MARKET
Organic Onions
Brad Sumner with Pacific Coast Trading Co. in Portland provided his report on July 17. “Hello organic onion nation!” Brad said. “As demand for organic onions, all colors, and sizes, continues to be good, we are finally stacking up some supply from different growing regions. We still have a few Mexican organic onions left. California, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington are all packing and shipping Organic onions this week. Markets remain steady.” He continued, “Even as more supply is available, the market remains good, especially the red onion market. The white onion market continues firm as supply matches demand and harvest chases orders. In general, for all colors, optimal planting schedules allow sales to roll alongside packing this time year. It will change in a few months when all the onions are out of the ground and tucked away in storage hoping to make April.” He also noted, “Honestly, it is just nice right now to not be struggling to fill commitments and contracts. No quality issues to speak of as we roll out of late intermediates and into long day varieties.”
Idaho-E. Oregon
Dwayne Fisher with Tamura Farms in Wilder, ID, and Champion Produce in Parma, ID, reported on August 14. “It’s go time for our group,” Dwayne said. “Our teams have been putting in late nights and early a.m.’s to get the early crop in and avoid any sun scald issues. I certainly wish people understood what goes into making this onion world happen on the farm level! You can’t pay most people enough to even attempt what we just do year in and year out. We can’t thank our teams enough for their time, work ethic, and dedication to make it all happen.” He continued, “In terms of getting onions in a bag; we will be up and running at our Idaho facilities come Monday. Product coming in is excellent quality. Size profile is going to be tight, as we anticipated with our record heat and smoke-filled skies. The Jumbo and up market on yellows should remain very stable as we move forward. The medium market is feeling some pressure, no question. That should tell you our yields are in check. Could also predict that we could experience even higher price gaps between the jumbo price and that of colossal and supers. Whites are hard to come by and are being marketed accordingly. Reds for us are very stable and those yields will be in check too, so there is absolutely no reason for that market lower even through harvest.” And he said, “With regions wrapping up and nothing to write home about on yields this market should remain very stable through harvest. Transportation has been plentiful. Flat beds are helping with the delivered prices as well, so that will continue to be in our favor of maintaining a decent market for our farms and growers.”
California/Washington/Hermiston, OR:
John Vlahandreas with Wada Farms in Salem, OR, told us on August 14 that his California sources will be finishing up this week. “It’s been a good transition,” John said, “California growers and shippers had a good season, despite the heat and they were smart about how they handled production and what they put in the bag. Overall, I think the California growers felt good about the season. The profits weren’t huge, but I think overall there was some money made. Now the Northwest is ramping up and Washington is shipping all colors. I’ve heard some Idaho folks have started, but I’m not sure who. We are going into the switch and prices are still good. That’s more than we can say for some of the years past. We are looking at double digits on the market. I don’t know if it will last, but it’s sure a good start.” On Northwest quality, John said, “We do need to remember, it’s still summer and we are looking at early varieties, so buyers shouldn’t expect storage onions yet.” And on transportation, John said, “I have been getting a lot of broker calls, and it seems like they are calling trying to book the load and then trying to find the truck. This is really becoming an issue so be aware, even with people you may have worked with before.”
Washington/Idaho/California/Mexico (through Texas)/Spain:
Rick Greener with Greener Produce in Ketchum, ID provided his report on August 14. “I don’t know, but I think we might be looking at the dog-days of August,” Rick said. “Demand is average, but not off the charts. Buyers are looking for Colossals on down, but predominately the little guys The majority of my whites are Mexican crossing through Texas, and I would say 50% of the total onions I’m selling are coming out of California. Honestly, this late stuff is the best quality out of Cali I’ve seen all season and some buyers just aren’t ready to make the switch. When you leave, you don’t go back, and the Northwest is just getting started. Also, we still have onions coming out of Spain for the East Coast.” On the market, Rick said, “Red pricing is still strong and I would say yellows are “stabl-ish”. Whites are still all over the place and I still think that has a lot to do with quality. Quality out of the Northwest is “summer.” Rick also commented on freight. “Freight’s super easy, but I want to remind everyone that we have boilers, Cipollinis, and pearls. We know you want ‘em and we have ‘em!”
Peru/Northwest/Walla Walla, WA/Vidalia, GA:
Dan Borer with Keystone Fruit Marketing reported in on August 14 from his Walla Walla, WA sales office. “Our Walla Walla deal is wrapping up,” Dan said. “Our biggest issue was weather this season, which is no surprise. We had a cool start in the spring and a hot summer. Pricing was good and we had large-size profiles. Overall, we are pleased with the outcome, but it was average. With new crop in the Northwest, we are about three weeks out before we know exactly where we are for size and volumes. We had a break in the hot weather and it cooled down this week, but we expect it to warm up again. What is being harvested now are early varieties, so the jury’s still out on the crop for the season. We’ll know more later on.” Dan commented on the Vidalia season. “Our Vidalia growers are very pleased with this year’s season,” Dan said. “The crop had good sizing and good volumes. Pricing was good as well. So no complaints on the Vidalia deal.” Finally, Dan gave us an update on Peru. “Peruvian imports are coming to both coasts and the crop looks very good. In the west, arrivals started last week, and on the East Coast, they began two weeks ago. We are really looking forward to this season. It looks like we’ll have good size profile and consistent quality.” Many thanks to Dan for sending a photo of Keystone’s Mayan Sweets.
