Interesting stats from AMI Market Weekly on the European onion market came our way this week via New Zealand through Robert Bell with Western Onion in Camarillo, CA.
The July 19 report, with a link that goes to https://www.ami-informiert.de/ami-maerkte, starts with Germany’s market situation, saying sale of winter onions “is slowly picking up speed,” the high summer temps and lack of precip are causing concern. “Most of the set onions are still in the field and are exposed to heat stress. The calibers and harvest quantities are expected to be smaller.” The report noted that along with the volume of new onions available, demand had increased recently but the share of onion-buying households remains “below the level of the two previous years.” It said that especially April-July, as Germany’s storage onion season winds down, onion imports are at their highest, with product coming primarily from Spain, the Netherlands, and New Zealand.
In 2021, though, the extended availability of German storage onions delayed the arrival of imports by a month, and this year imports will be delayed longer. The market report said, “According to provisional data from Destatis, just under 69,458 t of onions were imported from January to May 2022, compared to around 23 % more (90,174 t) in the same period last year. Compared to the three-year average, almost one-third fewer onions were imported for this period (-37 %). At the same time, export volumes increased. While around 26,754 t of onions were exported from January to May 2021, this year it was almost 22 % more.”
Pricing for “sorted brown winter sown onions,” the report says, “is around 48.00 EUR/100 kg in bigbags ex station continue to be quoted. Demand for red winter sown onions is brisk. The prices for sorted red winter sown onions are around 60.00 EUR/IOO kg in bigbags ex station.”
Heat in the Netherlands has made it “challenging to irrigate the onion crops sufficiently and keep up with evaporation. No significant rainfall is expected for the time being,” the report says. “Harvesting and sales are currently progressing sluggishly due to the heat. The first quantities of red onions are expected. Depending on the size, the prices for sorted yellow onions in the export business are unchanged around 30.00-33.00 El-JR/ 100 kg in bulk ex station.”
The report quotes the Holland Onion Association (HOA), noting, “the current export season is coming to an end. Total onion exports for this season have already reached more than 1,218,000 tonnes. The number of countries actively importing stands at 132, compared to 1,136,000 t (-7%) shipped to 128 countries during the same period in the 2020/21 season.”
Looking at the EU, the report says that supplies of winter sown onions in Austria is “very extensive,” and the quality is “very satisfactory.” It goes on to say that the “seasonally quiet sales to the domestic food retail trade have not changed much, nor has the restrained export situation.” Prices have not changed from the pat week’s low level, and the report says, “The current price level is not conducive to making cultivation decisions in favour of onion cultivation and securing the supply of domestic goods.”
Onion demand in France remains high, and the winter sown season has transitioned to set onions. In Poland, “prices for winter sown onions are unchanged,” and in Spain “prices have fallen once again as harvest volumes increase.”
In the UK, “The harvest of overwintered onions is complete and harvest of spring sets is imminent. Yields have been very good, only adding to the problem of too many brown onions in the marketplace with ever-reducing orders. The last few cold stored red onions are being cleared, Egyptian is packing well, and Spanish is just starting to arrive, albeit at very high prices. The drill maincrop across East Anglia is growing well and harvest will be early as things stand.” And looking at the “World I Market situation Russian Federation,” the report says that Egypt is the largest onion supplier for the Russian Federation. The report says that according to AB-Center, imports in 2021 amounted to around 28,800 t, almost 61 % or 45,400 t less than in the previous year. In the period January to May 2022, Russia sourced 35,000 t of onions from Egypt, an increase of 39 % or 9,700 t compared to the same period last year.”
