In recent months, the Mauritanian market has been deluged with Dutch onions. “This country, with about 3.5 million inhabitants, is good for the import of 40,000 to 45,000 tonnes of onions annually. During the high season, around Ramadan, import is at 4,000 tonnes per month, and during the low season, February to August, it’s about 3,000 tonnes,” says Peter Beemsterboer. “Containers are being loaded weekly, and besides, a three-weekly charter boat sails from Vlissingen, which transports 1,200 tonnes of onions in addition to all kinds of other products. However, from February, complete loads of 2,500 tonnes of onions are also unloaded in Mauritania besides these regular supplies, resulting in a complete collapse of the market.”
“The same thing happened in Senegal in November; the market was completely flooded. Luckily, the Senegalese government intervened, and implemented a quota to protect their own production. The border was closed for imported onions as of 20 February. Because of the large volume, there are still Dutch onions on the market; the result is that the Senegalese new harvest onions are sold under cost price,” Peter continues. “I’ve been trading with Mauritania for more than 40 years, but I’ve never experienced anything this bad. The market’s been flooded before, but that was usually temporary, and after a while the market recovered. The market is now being deliberately deluged, and sales prices are so low they don’t even cover overheads in Mauritania. Even if you are given the onions for free in the Netherlands, money would have to be added.”
“In recent years, the sorting capacity was extended considerably in the Netherlands, and 30,000 tonnes can now easily be sorted per week. If there are then too few export options, an unhealthy competition is created, and the exporter with his own export company tries to operate as efficiently as possible by selling their volume at sharper prices, and getting rid of the exporter’s margin. And that starts snowballing as a result. Every right-minded person understands that it’s ridiculous to supply a market that consumes 3,000 onions per month with double that volume. The entire supply chain is losing money because of this, and it’s bad for the entire sector. Besides, I’m worried that the government will take action to also protect local growers in Mauritania in future,” the exporter says.
“The sheds are full of onions, and dozens of containers are still standing on the quay that weren’t allowed into Senegal anymore, and were sent to their neighbouring country Mauritania. Quality is dropping, and prices decrease daily. However, every disadvantage also has an advantage; consumers can buy cheap onions,” Peter concludes.