Featured image: Photo courtesy of OnionBusiness.com
MARKET
Editor’s Note: Last Thursday morning’s OnionBusiness Market News noted a buzz about the National Onion Association’s November numbers. A revised report was published Thursday afternoon by the NOA with updated numbers and significant changes for a couple of areas. NOA members who don’t have that update can get it by contacting the association in Greeley, CO.
Washington:
John Vlahandreas with Wada Farms reported from his sales office in Salem, OR, this week. “Demand is steady this week and getting stronger going into the holidays,” he said. “Retailers have set up their stores for Thanksgiving on dry goods, and they will start setting up their produce sections soon. They are getting in their orders now, which means they are ordering a lot of 16/3s. And that means mediums are getting a little on the tighter side and will no doubt start getting tighter still.” John continued, “Some sheds don’t want to deal with packaging 16/3s and rely on buying from other sheds to meet their customer demands, so medium demand will continue to increase. Demand on the larger stuff remains very good, which is reflected in a good strong market. Oh sure, you might hear of a deal or two out there because someone might have an overrun, but it’s not the market. The market is strong and steady.” And, he said, “There might be room for an increase too. With the revised NOA numbers showing the overall availability down something like 6 million, we could see an increase in January due to processors looking for more onion supplies. Of course, I don’t have a pulse on what imports will be doing then.” On transportation, John said it’s not been difficult. “Getting trucks has been easy so far. You might have to pay more, but it has been pretty good. The one thing to watch for is the issues with mountain passes. That could cause some significant delays.”
Matt Murphy with L&M Cos. in Raleigh, NC, told us on Nov. 9 that demand is good this week. “We are selling plenty of onions out of our Warden, WA, operation,” Matt said. “But I wouldn’t say it’s any more or less than it has been for the last several weeks. It’s just been moving along pretty steady.” He continued, “We do have Thanksgiving orders on the books, so buyers are planning for the holidays. We expect a good pull this week and next, and then we’ll see what happens. On the market pricing for jumbos and larger is steady and holding, and the price for mediums has been somewhat soft and sluggish.” Matt said, “Our yields were about the same as last year, so we aren’t down, but I will tell you we did move quite a few onions early on. So we are managing our supplies.” On transportation, Matt said rates are likely to increase. “With holiday freight starting up, we should expect to see rates increase and the ability to get trucks get a little tougher, so we need to prepare for that. Plus, the winter weather eliminates our ability to use flatbeds and, of course, that doesn’t help.”
Idaho-E. Oregon/Washington:
Jason Pearson with Eagle Eye Produce in Nyssa, OR, reported in on Nov. 9 to tell us that demand is good. “Demand is steady this week,” Jason said. “The Thanksgiving pull has started, and buyers are mainly looking for reds and yellows. There are a few white orders too. For Thanksgiving, we are expecting good demand this week and next and then we’ll see what happens. This week, mostly, demand is on jumbos up, but you know mediums are surprisingly a little tight. I think when you have a price spread like we have between the medium and jumbos, people have been picking up the mediums, and now they are getting just a little tight. On the market, it’s holding steady. On jumbos, the market did dip a little, which I don’t understand at all. But it is holding steady now.” He said, “Our quality continues to be good, and we have availability in all sizes and colors.”, Jason said transportation is starting to get tough. “We are definitely finding the trucks, but the holidays are coming, and I think we’ll see an increase in rates and a decrease in availability. So buyers will need to prepare for it.”
Joshua Frederick with Snake River Produce in Nyssa, OR, told us on Nov. 9, “Weather is starting to set the tone for business, which has been picking up. Thanksgiving around the corner will hopefully spark folks to get the pantry filled up as well. The market hasn’t shown the effects of the shortage we have this season, but we are glad to see that the CORRECT NUMBERS were adjusted and revised for the overall supplies in our valley.” He continued, “The red market has been depressing (especially mediums) with other areas being backed up on inventory and supplies, but we should see a turnaround hopefully within the next few weeks. Yellow onion volume for us is climbing upward, especially on medium and jumbo yellows. We have supplies in colossals and super colossal yellows, but we are using them for our mixers. I hope folks realize that the shortage and the cost it’s taking to grow and harvest and store and pack onions just isn’t going to get any cheaper, and if we don’t get the money up to break even and cover cost, we will eventually be looking to grow and pack other commodities due to overhead and labor it takes these days to grow an onion crop.” Josh continued, “It’s understandable for outsiders that are not the actual grower/shipper to assume the market shouldn’t hold steady and be reported correctly, but from a grower/owner packing shed standpoint, there isn’t a reason at all that jumbos shouldn’t be holding steady around the $20 range. It took well over $15 to grow this past crop without factoring in the shortage of yields and crops.” He added “My opinion is over the next few weeks we should see an increase on medium pricing for that size will fill the gap for the shortage of jumbos for the season, and with an already small crop there isn’t any reason mediums shouldn’t be at double digits already.” Josh said, “We designed our whole program here at SRP from harvest to pack to capture all small onions for there is a need and demand for them this season from consumer packs to foodservice to process for the season.” He went on to say, “Being that I handle all sales and marketing ONLY for Snake River Produce (despite the rumors in the industry) I, along with our owners/growers, look outside the box on how we can utilize our complete crop and gauge to see the response of today’s times and demands for this new change to allow the direction for our planting/packing season for the 2023/2024’s crop.” That groundwork, he said, “is already complete and set for planting, but if we don’t fight and make the changes now to get markets to respond, we will look at growing other commodities instead. Cost of goods (labor, fuel, fertilizer, seed and packaging) are not getting any cheaper, and the return must offset it. If this doesn’t start taking place, we will continue to see fewer and fewer family farms exist.” Josh offered “thoughts and prayers also for Florida and the East Coast growers/customers and families as Mother Nature continues to get our attention once again. Pray for snow in the mountains, for we are already short on water. Eat more onions!!! Make onions $20 again! Together we can rebuild our great agriculture industry.”
Herb Haun with Weiser Onion Produce in Weiser, ID, said on Nov. 9 he’s seeing “pretty good Thanksgiving demand on all sizes.” Herb also said he’s out of whites now. He noted about transportation, “With the cold weather, trucks are tighter.”
Our thanks to Shay Myers with Owyhee Produce for proving the link to his great LinkedIn video onion report. Click the link to view it on LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/shayfmyers_onions301-activity-6995348070032973824-ZoIb?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
Organic Onions:
Brad Sumner with Pacific Coast Trading Co. in Portland, OR, told us on Nov. 9 demand was strong, noting, “It’s good and getting better, especially orders for next week.” He credited the Thanksgiving pull and said he’d been seeing especially good demand for “a lot of jumbo yellows and 16-3# yellow consumers.” The market, Brad said, was steady, and the “only dips are Thanksgiving Ad quotes we did weeks ago.” Quality remains good, and Brad said with transportation “[from] Washington to California pricing is inching up.”
Colorado Western Slope/Corinne, Utah:
Don Ed Holmes with The Onion House in Weslaco, TX, said on Nov. 9 his Western Colorado and Corinne, UT, deals are both “rolling along” nicely. “Business is awesome this week,” he said. “We’re seeing really good action – November is usually a fantastic onion month, and we’re seeing good Thanksgiving pull.” He said trucks “are around – tight but we are still getting them” in both regions.
CROP
Texas Rio Grande Valley/Tampico, Mexico:
Don Ed Holmes with The Onion House in Weslaco told us on Nov. 9 his Texas 1015 crop planting has finished, and he added, “They’re also done planting in Mexico.” Mexico will start with sweets in light volume during January, with more onion volume coming in February.
