The situation on the onion market has barely changed in recent weeks. "We knew it would remain difficult and that is also the case," says Jaap D'Hont. He is from the onion sorting company of the same name, based in the Zeelandic Flemish town of Groede in the Netherlands.
"We have a reasonable amount of work when it comes to small packs. Even so, we are working at half capacity. It is very difficult to find extra income from exporting the onions."
"There is minumal demand at the moment. At the start of last week, the demand increased slightly. Even then, it is challenging to make the money you want. Especially with the 40-60 sortings."
"The margin, with regard to the purchasing prices, is already skewed. It is also not getting any better. Small pack sales to our permanent clients are still ticking over. I expect most clients to switch to import onions at the end of March. Then it is over for us," Jaap says.
"In Belgium and here, in Zeelandic Flanders, the yields were very low. We anticipated this. We bought more onions in from other parts of the Netherlands, as well as France. We did so to keep servicing our clients."
"This is why, beyond expectation, we still had work in recent months. We have very low yields from our own cultivation. These were also mainly small sizes. These still went to Africa in the autumn, but there is hardly any left now," he continues.
"The French onions are of good quality. There are also still good Dutch batches. However, they are not all suited to small packaging. This is also the case with red onions. These are still grown quite a lot here. These onions must, therefore, be exported."
"The price for loose, in the box, large onions is just above EUR0,50. The 40/60 sizes are being sold for between EUR0,33 and ER0,38. Growers in the polders do, however, quickly ask EUR0,40 to EUR0,45. You, therefore, cannot make anything," Jaap concludes.
