Dutch onion exporters are faced with a shortage of sales opportunities. “There is much product everywher in Europe, and of good quality at that. On average, the stocks in Europe nowadays are about ten per cent higher, and even more than 30 per cent higher in a country such as Germany, compared to last year,” says Chayenne Wiskerke from Wiskerke Onions. “The same is true globally. The US has good yields and a low price, and India also has a large production. Export to Brazil is not happening at all because of the good local harvest, including in the surrounding countries.”

“Furthermore, we have seen the first imported onions arriving on the European market when there isn’t actually any demand, because there are plenty of very good quality local onions still available. This all causes the market to become imbalanced, and those are the effects we are dealing with now. The export figures for week 8 have decreased to a volume of 12,000 tonnes, while we should actually be realising 16/17,000 tonnes, but there currently are no countries that could absorb that volume. Factually, we are now operating at 40 per cent of Dutch capacity” Chayenne continues. “That results in a decreasing price, which is not helping anybody increase sales. Medium sizes are particularly difficult to sell. Fortunately, we have strong quality at our disposal, but it is becoming time for some batches to be sold already.”

Export now 15,000 tonnes behind
“But it’s not all bad. For example, as we are headed towards Easter, we might get some opportunities, and we have had a fantastic first half of the season. Between weeks 27 and 52, 610,000 tonnes of onions have been exported from the Netherlands, and that is 10,000 tonnes more than the year before. However, we are seeing that it is becoming increasingly difficult in the second half of the season, and export is already 15,000 tonnes behind on last year. From week 1 to week 27, we then exported at least 430 million kilograms of onions, good for an export of 16/17,000 tonnes per week, and that no longer seems feasible now.”

“People are quick to point out that we are missing the Russian market, but if that market were to reopen, we would also have to start struggling with ‘new’ suppliers, including Turkey, Egypt and China. These countries have now found their way to the Russian market,” Chayenne says. “I am certainly not negative about the future of Dutch onion exports, but right now we just don’t have the export opportunities, and we will have to be patient. The shortage of reefer containers combined with the enormous increase of shipping transport costs makes it a bit more complicated for importers at the moment.”