MARKET
Washington/Columbia Basin/Peru:
Dan Borer with Keystone Fruit Marketing reported in on Oct. 20 from his sales office in Walla Walla, WA. “This week demand is fair, and pricing is good,” he said. “The facts are in the details. If you look at the 10-year averages for the last several weeks, for dry bulb onions we’ve been at or above the minimum 10-year average. On week 42, we dipped slightly, but if you look at the individual areas, you’ll see that Peru was off by 107 loads, which was the major contributor to the decrease – and that was due to the problems at the western ports.” He continued, “I would say all in all things are looking very good for the onion category. When you think about it, with the expectation of pricing on whites, we haven’t seen pricing on reds and yellows this good at this time of year in quite a while.” Dan added that Keystone’s quality is good. “We are shipping hybrids, Northwest sweets, and our Mayan Sweets out of Peru, and all have nice quality, and we have no complaints,” he said. “I will say that transportation continues to be the same – expensive!” Dan talked about the season moving forward. “I believe we have a lot to look forward to for November and the holidays. Last year, it was a rough Thanksgiving with COVID. This year, most of the restrictions have been lifted, and consumers are planning for celebrations and family gatherings, which means more onions and potatoes. I think November is going to be a great month for onions!”
Columbia Basin:
Jared Gutierrez with Columba Basin Onion in Hermiston, OR, reported in on Oct. 20 to say, “Things are good here at CBO. All onions are in the barn, and both market and demand are good. All colors and organic are moving well, with reds being the hot item.” He continued, “Obviously, with the hot growing season we had this year, our size and yield are down some, which will encourage us to monitor our supply a little more closely.” And, Jared said, “As for transportation, we have been fortunate as of late, but that may become more challenging as the days get colder and holidays approaching.” He said the market outlook “appears to be good down the road, and hopefully, we can keep it that way.”
Idaho-E. Oregon:
Steve Baker with Baker & Murakami Produce in Ontario, OR, told us on Oct. 20 that demand has been steady this week. “Movement has been good on all sizes and colors,” Steve said. He added, “Like the past weeks, colossals and super colossals are in very tight supply.” Steve said the market has been steady as well. “I don’t see any real changes in the market for the end of this week,” he said. Quality remains very good, and Steve said transportation is unchanged. “Transportation challenges are the same as previous weeks. Trucks will become more challenging because we won’t be able to load flatbed trailers much longer.”
Dwayne Fisher with Champion Produce Sales in Parma, ID, weighed in on Oct. 20. He said, “Harvest is over. Hard to tell that by just driving by, with all the empty bins sitting around. Demand has been a little quiet the past couple weeks, and I am starting to wonder if this is the new norm consumption-wise. I hope not.” Dwayne continued, “No one is complaining about price, but everyone is complaining about no help! To me that is what is holding this deal back. Restaurants need workers. Let’s be honest – everyone needs workers. The good news is we are getting all the business we can take given inventories, but again without the increased demand it does make it hard to move up on price.” And, Dwayne said, “Our farms and growers need way more money than we are currently getting to match the increases we are experiencing on the cost of production side. Foreign imports continue to grab my attention as Peruvian loads are now in excess of 1,500 additional loads than this same time period last year. Mexico is 364 loads ahead, and we all remember where they ended up last season. This issue is one we have to continue to address and pay attention to as American growers and producers.” He added, “On the bright side of things, the weather has allowed us to keep using flats, and the medium market is up well over a $1/bag and looks to continue to move up to a more reasonable level than the lows we were experiencing. Larger size onions, reds and whites all have remained very solid. Matter of fact, I had a major buyer tell me they questioned the bottom side of the USDA jumbo market report prices as they said they can’t find anyone doing that price!”
Idaho:
Rick Greener with Greener Produce in Ketchum told us that his company is moving onions out of Idaho, Oregon, Utah, Colorado, Michigan and North Dakota. “If you are interested in some freight advantage, you might want to take a look at pulling some onions out of North Dakota if the size profile suits you,” he said. “This week demand is moderate. I say that’s because most folks are working hard to cover their contracts, so there isn’t a lot of onions on the open market and not a lot available in sizes over a jumbo. Buyers need to adhere to my new acronym – AFAP, order ‘As Fast as Possible.’” Marketwise, Rick said, “The market for anything from jumbos up is strong and steady. Anything from a jumbo up has good pricing, but again, larger sizes aren’t plentiful, which brings me to another point: I think it’s time for these restaurant marketers to put on their thinking caps and see what they can do with a medium onion.” He continued, “If you can’t get colossal onions for that house-made onion ring, why not make medium house-made onion rings and call them baby rings or something like that? Facts are facts, man. Time to get creative!” On transportation, Rick said, “Winter is upon us, so get ready for all reefers. They’re going to get tighter and more expensive. We can get them, but you need to plan and pay. Aside from that bad news, we are looking forward to the holidays. It should be a good one this year. Fast. Furious. And FUN! Come and get ‘em!”
Western Colorado/Utah:
Don Ed Holmes with The Onion House in Weslaco, TX, said his Colorado Western Slope and Utah onion deals continue to be very good. “All’s good in both places,” Don Ed said on Oct. 20. He noted that the Olathe, CO, warehouse and his Utah growers have good supplies on all three colors, and quality is good out of both states.
Western Colorado:
David DeBerry with Southwest Onion Growers in McAllen, TX, said on Oct. 20 that “everything is great” with his Colorado onions. “The markets are really good, the best we’ve seen in 20 years,” he said. “Western Colorado production for almost every grower is above average on size and on yield, and they’re enjoying that rare combination of good markets and good yields.” David said the deal will run to mid-January. “In an ideal world we would go to mid-January and then start Mexico that same week,” he said, adding, “We’ll see.”
CROP
Texas/Mexico:
David DeBerry with Southwest Onion Growers in McAllen, TX, said on Oct. 20 that everything is planted in the Rio Grande Valley except some of the later acreage and up in the Wintergarden area. “It’s been fantastic planting weather,” he said, adding, “The eastern side of the valley has gotten more rain than the western side.” In the Tampico region of Mexico, “everything that was planted from seed is planted, and transplants will all be in the ground in the next 10 days,” David said. He noted the acreage in both Texas and Mexico is not expected to be significantly different than in recent years. “There might be some onions out of Mexico in mid-January,” he said. “But the majority of volume will be mid-February to mid-April.”
