MARKET
National Outlook with focus on Washington/Oregon, and Peru
Dan Borer with Keystone Fruit Marketing in Walla Walla, WA, gave OnionBusiness his take on current demand and the market for a variety of areas this month. “First and foremost, it’s important to remember what time of year it is,” he said. “Demand for produce, in general, has never been high at this time of year. Think about it: parents are buying back-to-school clothes, people are getting geared up for football and there is just not much focus on buying a lot of fresh produce. On the retail side, retailers are looking to reset their stores for fall, so there just isn’t a whole lot of demand to bring in a lot more produce in August. After Labor Day, it’s all going to change.” Dan continued, “Now, it’s also no big surprise that the market has come off. The difference is that the drop came a little late, which made it feel drastic. Normally, prices start dropping off after July 4, and this year the drop all came at once. Now the good news is that we know through the recent NOA report that it looks like it should be a normal fall crop, and there probably won’t be an oversupply situation. Realizing that it’s early and things could change, the outlook is encouraging and while the pricing for summer onions was at about at 10-year high, we still should have a decent market this fall.” He said, “On Keystone’s shipping, we are still moving onions out of California and New Mexico, but that is winding down. We are considered finished for Walla Walla Sweets, with just a few orders we are filling for customers. I have to say that the Walla Walla season was an absolute hit! What a great season. Now we are moving into our hybrids out of Washington and from growers in our area in Oregon, and sweets from the Northwest and Peru.” Dan added, “The Northwest crop looks good and will continue to improve as we get further into the season. We are hearing that we should expect a normal year from Peru. Early shipments have been light, but Mayan Sweets are being sold on both coasts, and supplies will continue to increase as we get into fall. Growers have told us that acres planted are normal and yields are normal as well.”
Washington, New Mexico/Kansas:
Trent Faulkner with L&M Companies in Raleigh, NC, reported to us on Aug. 28 that L&M is getting started in Washington. “Our Warden program is also starting,” he said. “Everything looks very good there. We saw some recent videos here in the office. The crop looks just amazing, and sizing looks good too.” L&M is still shipping out of New Mexico, he said, but the company’s other areas are also getting started. “We are finishing up in New Mexico, but we should still be shipping out of there for the next week to 10 days, possibly longer depending on how long the grower wants to go,” Trent said. “Our Kansas program has started. We have harvested and are just getting started packing,” he continued. “We should be ramped up and going full steam by next week and will have good supplies of all colors and sizes.” Trent said that demand has been good. “Traditionally August is a slow month,” he said. “We also saw the market come down quickly, but at this point we feel the market has stabilized, so we are very optimistic moving forward. We are selling nice hearty onions and we’re selling with a high level of confidence.”
Idaho-E. Oregon:
Chris Woo with Owyhee Produce in Parma, ID, and Nyssa, OR, told us on Aug. 28 that Owyhee has had a “good, normal start-up” and is moving all colors now. He said sizes are mostly jumbos, with some colossals and supers, and onions that are still growing in the fields will continue to size. “Most growers who are still irrigating now will be turning the water off shortly to let them cure.” Quality is good, and weather has been warm and dry. “We just need Mother Nature to dry them for us,” he said. About volume, Chris said he doesn’t see an over-surplus in the fields. “I think we’ll see average tonnage,” he said. He noted Owyhee is concentrating on its program business currently, and he added, “After Labor Day we’ll see more Treasure Valley sheds in the mix.” And, he added, “Owyhee Produce is working around the clock. Shay is putting in 20-hour days, and Woo is putting in four.”
Steve Baker with Baker & Murakami Produce in Ontario, OR, said on Aug. 28 that demand “is just fair this week,” adding, “This isn’t unusual for this time of year.” Super colossals and colossals are in heavy demand, Steve said, and he noted, “We’re getting calls from other shippers looking for big onions.” As for the market, he said, it’s “still trying to find its settling point.” With harvest well underway, Baker & Murakami has good supplies of yellows, reds and whites in jumbo sizes, and Steve said supplies are tighter on colossals and mediums. And, he said, “We should start storing in mid-September.”
Northern Colorado:
John Harris with Paradigm Fresh in Fort Morgan said on Aug. 28, “We are nearing the end of August and the end to one of the most unfun market adjustments of all time I think.” However, he continued, “The good news is that we seem to be in a ‘mostly’ stable place with the market. I do expect jumbo yellows to continue to come down a bit as everyone seems to have big size at the moment. The medium yellow market seems to be in a great pace as product is actually a bit tight.” And, John added, “This market could even possibly come up slightly from my vantage point. Whites seem to be at a comfortable marketing position, and reds in the Northwest seem mostly stable as well. There are a few California reds trading at cheap money as there is nothing to mix with them. New Mexico is wrapping up its season this week as well.” John said Paradigm is “marketing nearly 100 percent out of Washington at the moment with a bit to offer here on Colorado product.”
New York:
Rick Minkus with Minkus Family Farms in New Hampton told us that the New York crop is about two weeks behind. “We harvesting transplants and have moved a few New York onions, but we won’t start full steam until September,” he said. “Things look good here. We had a really good growing weather, and oh what a difference a year makes. Last season, we fought the wet conditions clear through.” On current shipping he said, “We are still shipping out of California and Washington for now. I guess I would rate demand as ‘blah,’ but that’s always the way it is in August. Getting kids back in school has generally not been very good for moving a lot of onions. I also think we have hit the bottom of the market, and I don’t see it going any further down. It’s not great to see the market fall so drastically, but it’s like I always say, ‘In this business, it seems we always sell the best for less.’”
Peru:
Cliff Riner with G&R Farms in Glennville, GA, reported in on Aug. 28, saying the Georgia company had shipped the last of its 2019 Vidalias the fourth week of Aug. and was nearly switched to Peru. “We’ll be fully transitioned to Peru after Labor Day,” Cliff said. Peruvian sweets have sized well, and “quality is really good.” Also, he noted, “Demand is keeping up a steady pace with supplies, and as we unload containers, we’re packing onions in pretty quick order.” G&R is looking to run Peru through late February or early March, with Mexico/Texas filling the gap between Peru and the start of Georgia Sweets in April. “And then we go into Vidalias,” he said.
Broker’s Perspective:
Jason Vee with Vee’s Marketing in Superior, WI, weighed in on Aug. 28, telling us, “It’s that time of year, end of summer. My boy is playing football. Both kids start school on Tuesday. It’s getting cold at night. And in line with the changing of the seasons, produce people are finding all sorts of time to chase short pays, slow pay, and claims.” Jason continued, “I’ll bet there are a handful of PACAs after dealing with those high dollars for the last six months. Luckily, my desk is quiet that way, at least on onions. I didn’t flag more than six pallets through Texas and New Mexico. I have had a few loads with quality issues in Washington. That’s par for the course on the early stuff.” And now, Jason said, “All bets are off. I had my fingers crossed for an eight and six market on yellows. Now I don’t think so. Whites had been the strongest. Now even whites have dropped significantly. Red market isn’t great either. I like it better when Rick Greener brings the bad news, but I’ll take a turn. This market sucks, and it’s going to suck for a while. The only bright spots I can identify are quality will be very good, the low markets will entice export business (pending tariffs), and there will be some scarcity on supers. Otherwise it’s looking like a long storage season, folks.”
CROP
Northern Colorado:
Bob Sakata with Sakata Farms in Brighton, CO, told us on Aug. 27 that harvest was a little more than two weeks away. “We’re looking at mid-September,” Bob said. “The weather has been very good, and we’ve missed the hail.” Bob said he and son Robert, owner/President of Sakata Farms, looked at the crop first-hand over the past weekend. “We just toured the fields on Sunday,” Bob said. “And the onions look nice.”
Vidalia:
Cliff Riner with G&R Farms in Glenville, GA, said on Aug. 28 the operation had recently cleaned up its 2019 crop, and he added, “G&R just completed fumigation of seed bed land, and first seeding will be around Sept. 10, then every week for three weeks. We’ll start transplanting in early November.” He said indications are that the Vidalia deal will see similar acreage in 2020 as it did this year, “just shy of 10,000 acres.”
Featured image: Early yellow onion harvest courtesy of Baker & Murakami Produce Company
