hat trick for Holland Onions

Last season, the export record of the Dutch onion was broken for the third time in a row, eventually reaching more than 1.3 million tons. That might become more difficult to match this season. The vigorous growth in the cultivation of Holland Onions since the millennium has actually declined somewhat this season. Apart from the fact that the cultivation plans of Dutch farmers had already shifted somewhat from onions to potatoes or grains, the dry-bone spring and the even drier summer have further reduced the yield figures per onion field.

Epic record
The record for the 2021-2022 season finally stood at a very impressive 1,318 million kilograms and increased by 0.85 million kilograms. The epic limit of 1.3 million tons was thus well passed and meant an absolute export growth of 7%.

The new export season started in week 27, despite the fact that 9% less was sown than last season, again quite explosively. The first weeks of export, showed a growth of a startling 23%, but this has by now normalized to around 3%. It is expected that a volume of between 1,000,000 and 1,050,000 tons will be available for weekly export. Up to and including week 45, about half of this has already been shipped, leaving around 14,000 tons per week for the current season.

Latest European facts and figures 
With an average yield over the past 10 years of around 57 tons per Dutch hectare, it looks like the yield in 2022 will be significantly lower at 44.2 tons per hectare. Even compared to last year when an average of 49 tons per hectare was harvested. Nationally, we see a declining trend in onion yields, largely the result of climate change with all its consequences. If we look at the neighboring countries in Europe, we see a similar trend emerging. The surface of the European onion fields has decreased sharply by 9% to almost 105,000 ha. The total onion production of the European countries and the United Kingdom is likely to be around 6.3 million tons.  And that is the lowest yield in the past four years, according to the very recently published harvest estimates and other figures from AMI. 

Expensive onions
Dutch growers therefore demand high prices. This makes it not always easy for the Dutch onion trade to compete on the world market as well as against each other as members of the Dutch onion trade.

Kickstart
Nevertheless total exports this 2022/23 season quickly increased to almost 118,500 tons in the first five weeks. Compared to last year, 'only' 96,000 tons left our national borders in the same week. The ranking this season was led by Ivory Coast in these first export weeks, which was well ahead of Senegal with cumulative 30,000 tons. However, Senegal subsequently announced that it is issuing import quotas for no less than 200,000 tons of onions this season, compared to 'only' 170,000 tons of import quota last season. Shortly afterwards, Senegal took over the lead again and Ivory Coast is slightly behind compared to the same period of the previous season. But because an enormous amount of Dutch onions have been shipped to Senegal in a short period of time, it is quite possible that this market will put the brakes on it for a while, and Ivory Coast will take the lead again. Great Britain is firmly in third position and is again growing steadily compared to last season in terms of imported volume.

What is also striking is a substantial export plus to Malaysia, which is in 7th position very early in this season with almost 17,500 tons, as well as to our southern neighbors in Belgium, where more than 16,000 tons have already been delivered so early in the export season. Belgium is already doubling their import volume compared to the previous season.

Wide spread
The spread is wide. The Holland Onion has already visited 116 countries. Countries that were not or barely on the market last season and even the season before around this period are also participating (again) early on, such as Israel, Cameroon, Japan and Australia, but also Jordan, the Bahamas, Switzerland and Niger pluses. Brazil also reports weekly from week 34 onwards this season.

The Holland Onion is therefore very much in demand and that results in a good price for both the grower and the trade. Although some growers are already so euphoric that there is even more in the barrel that they do not yet want to sell a kilo in this profitable market.