Featured image: Sonora, Mexico organic onion crop progress, photo courtesy of James Johnson with Carzalia Valley Produce
MARKET
Bronx, NY:
Lou Getzelman with Canyon Sales Co. on the Hunts Point Market told us on March 20, “Demand has been steady this week, many of our customers are staying with Idaho/Washington for as long as they’ll have onions, and we’re all but finished with NY state yellows, there’s just a few around,” Lou said. “The supply on Jumbo Yellows has been fair, and we haven’t seen much movement on price. Mexico has onions, but we haven’t seen many of them show up in New York yet. We’re being quoted a very wide range on Jumbo Yellows. Some are quoting trying to land close to what a NW onion would land at, while other quotes are quite a bit higher. Mexican onions have impacted the White market though, as we’ve seen very nice ones cross and the price is about 50% less than it was just a few weeks ago, it’s still a healthy FOB though and things seem to be a bit more stable than last week.” He continued, “The red market is hot; reds are strong. There are some jumbo reds around, but they are higher, and med reds are extremely tight again. Both Yellow and Red retail packages have also been moving higher. The retail pull has been strong, and we expect that to continue into Easter and Passover. Whatever yellows there are south of the border, they seem to be on the bigger side, so things really haven’t loosened up on the medium yellow deal.”
Sonora, Mexico:
James Johnson with Carzalia Valley Produce in Columbus, NM, told us on March 18 that the start of Sonora’s organic season is days away. He said, “I just went and visited our new grower in Sonora. We have an excellent crop of organic reds, whites, and yellows that we will be packing starting next week!” Our thanks to James for the outstanding field shots taken in Sonora. Click images to enlarge.
Northwest/Peru/Mexico:
Dan Borer with Keystone Fruit Marketing reported this week from his Walla Walla, WA sales office. “We are all but finished with our Peru program,” Dan said. “Volumes were a little light this season, but we had very good quality and excellent pricing, so it was a good go for Peru. Regarding the Northwest, I think everyone in the Northwest might store a little longer than they did. So, we are seeing more sheds wrapping up somewhat earlier than normal. Now our sales are blazin’ out of Mexico. We have a good supply of yellows. There is a decent supply of whites and a fair supply of reds right now. The volume and availability will continue to increase. Plus, we are seeing very good quality, and the market is also steady.”
Mexico/Texas Rio Grande Valley:
David DeBerry with Southwest Onion Growers in McAllen, TX, told us on March 20 that Tampico and South Texas are shipping onions, although recent precip had slowed movement a bit in the RGV. “Both areas, Tampico and the Texas Valley, are up and running,” he said. “However, we have had some rain around this week just as we’re getting started, and it’s going to slow down a full-speed start.” David added, “All three colors had been available before the rain and will be again in a couple of days. There was a little bit of acreage in Texas in one county that had a very hard hail, and there was probably in the neighborhood of 400 acres lost completely.” He concluded, “Demand, currently in this environment, exceeds available supplies for the moment.”
Idaho-E. Oregon/Washington/Texas:
Jason Pearson with Eagle Eye Produce in Nyssa, OR, told us on March 20, “Demand has been good this week,” Jason said. “This is our last week up in Washington and we’ll be going another couple of weeks here in the Treasure Valley,” Jason said, “We are also shipping in a slow way out of Texas.” Jason continued. “Texas has had some recent rain, so everyone is stalled for now, but we’ll get back in as soon as possible.” On the market, Jason said, “The market is holding. It helps that Mexican onions are crossing with competitive pricing, so the market has remained steady. Reds are short now, so the red market is climbing on those.” Jason commented on transportation, “It’s been easy to get trucks, so no problem there.”
Idaho-E. Oregon/Washington/Texas/Mexico:
John Vlahandreas with Wada Farms in Salem, OR, told us on March 20, saying, “Demand has been crazy busy this week,” John said. “Last week it was a bit quiet, and then everyone woke up and thought, “Wow, Easter’s coming up, I need to get ordering.” So, this week and up until the middle of next week, there will be a lot of orders we need to cover. Right now, we are shipping out of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, with limited supplies out of Mexico. Texas has received rain this week, but warmer weather is coming, so that’s not a big deal, and any damage will be very minor. The Texas growing area is fairly spread out, and unlike the Northwest, when you have some rain in southern areas, it breaks up pretty fast, the sun comes out, and everything dries up quickly. You rarely have any looming clouds. Plus, those Texas guys are excellent marketers. Come next week, they’ll all be rocking hard on sales again.” John continued. “Still, all the early Easter demand and nice weather for picnics and such will put a lot of pressure on the Northwest sheds. Oh, you’ll see plenty of sheds finishing, but you’ll still have some big sheds holding on until June to handle their program business and to try to serve the repackers because those guys prefer an onion with a good skin set that can handle consumer packs a little better. Those buyers will hang on to the Northwest as long as they can because, basically, as an industry, we do a terrible job of educating consumers about what to expect with short-day onions, such as when to expect the short-day onions to come on, what short-days are supposed to look like, and so on. Regardless, there will be some of that continued repacker business, and then there will be a few sheds that move onions and potatoes and will be leveraging potato loads with onions. Still, Mexico is beginning to cross with more volume. They are at competitive pricing or higher, so the overall market is in good shape.” John ended his report, saying, “It looks like California will come in early on around April 22. Usually, it’s May 1. We’ll have to see how the next month goes.”
Rick Greener with Greener Produce took a break from his Nicaraguan Spring Break to provide his report on March 20. “Hey, we are always working, no matter where we go,” Rick said. “We are shipping out of Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and some out of Mexico. Texas is very wet this week, so no onions coming out of there for a bit, but when they get back at it, it will be ‘Game On!’” Rick continued, “Demand is steady as she goes. We’re filling regular orders, all sizes in yellows and whites. Small reds are super tight.” On the market, Rick said, “The market is holding which is great. A lot has to do with quality. Quality out of Mexico is decent, and the Northwest quality is good.” On the transportation side of things, Rick said, “We have trucks where you need to load them, plus we have plenty of shallots, cippolinis, and pearls, so come and get ‘em!”
CROP
New Mexico/Chihuahua, Mexico:
James Johnson with Carzalia Valley Produce in Columbus told us on March 18 that New Mexico is on track and maybe even a bit ahead this season. “Everything is in, everything has emerged and stands look great,” he said. Chihuahua could be lighter, although the crop is good. “New Mexico might be a little early this year after a milder than normal winter. Chihuahua crops look really nice, but I think overall plantings for export to USA are down. Blame that on an unfavorable exchange rate and difficulties for some securing financing.”
New Mexico:
Jason Pearson with Eagle Eye Produce in Nyssa, OR, told us on March 20, “We are looking at a June 1st start date, and everything looks beautiful down there.” Many thanks to Jason for sending the beautiful photo of New Mexico onions.
Walla Walla, WA/Vidalia, GA:
Dan Borer with Keystone Fruit Marketing reported this week from his Walla Walla, WA sales office. “In our area, we have had very warm weather lately. At one point, we hit 80 degrees. There has never been any 80-degree days recorded for this time of year, so that’s incredible,” Dan said. “So, our growers are getting transplants in the ground, and they are going hard.” Dan also commented on Vidalia. “Everything looks good in Vidalia. Looks like a normal crop on volume, and now that they have announced an official April 17 start date, our growers anticipate they will start before the official date with Georgia Sweets toward the end of March or the first week in April.”
