After a slight price drop, onion demand has picked up again, notes Marius Jansen of the Dutch company JJK Onion Trade. "Lately, prices have been rising sharply, but things were tough. Then prices dropped by about €0.04. That stagnation is the year's first setback in a market that has only been climbing," he says.
"Everyone's been stockpiling a little, and when some Egyptian onions came onto the market, the packing facilities got somewhat fuller. But prices are still at a nice level. The supers get €0.90 in the bale, 60-80 grades go for around €0.85, and the middles for about €0.82."
Asked about onions stocks, Marius expects not that many more to be available. "We'll have to wait and see how the next few weeks go. I think we can still export a fair amount to Spain and surrounding countries for the next four weeks. The onions' quality is good. We've been selecting for that all year, of course, and are satisfied with it," he explains.
"More demand for red onions would be welcome because there are more of those. That demand fluctuates a little. I expected that because of the yellow onions' high prices, red onions - which cost half as much as the yellow ones - would be a little more in demand. But despite having an alternative, customers still prefer the most expensive onions. Industrial onions sales are going by fits and starts, too. Over the past two weeks, that demand was lower, but those volumes are up nicely for this week."
JJK focuses on sorting and packing onions for exports and supplies industry onions to Eastern Europe. In 2020, the company acquired neighboring onion trade De Koster. "We're going to install a new sorting line there. And the entire packaging line will be renewed," concludes Marius, who runs the company with his brothers Pieter and Henk and son Jaco.
