Onions are in ample supply. However, that looks to be a bit of a temporary situation. “There seems to be a lot of storage supplies of onions left. Mexico also has a pretty big crop and overall there’s been a lot of onions in Mexico so that market has been very low in pricing. So all of those Mexican onions are making their way to the U.S.,” says Jessica Peri of Peri & Sons Farms, noting that the heavy volume from Mexico is earlier than usual and follows good growing conditions in the country.
David Peri, president of Peri & Sons Farms.
However, there could be some developments there in that Peri notes Europe has started pulling onions and is doing so from Mexico. “I’ve also heard that with some of the issues in Peru, shipments are being stopped due to political unrest and that has caused a few shortages because they couldn’t get shipments out on time. There doesn’t seem to be a shortage of onions generally at this point due to storage on top of fresh crop,” she says.
This largely affects white onions, which is the majority of Mexico’s crop, but also sweet onions and yellow onions. “I’m sure there’ll be some reds coming too but there has been a surplus of red onions in the Pacific Northwest,” says Peri.
Inflation and demand
At the same time, demand for onions is flat and while there’s been growth in sales dollars of onions, retailers are reporting there’s no volume growth which could be tied to inflationary pressures and consumers' dollars not going as far as they used to.
Pricing has softened on onions for now due to ample supplies and demand.
This means pricing has softened for now due to the ample supplies and demand. “Losing those unit sales hurts because overall the storage crop wasn’t a big one. All shippers anticipated another good market and a shortage around this time of year and it just never happened,” says Peri.
At the same time, it’s likely a temporary situation that could end in April. “With pressure from Mexico, it’s going to seem like we have a lot of onions. Come April, storage supplies are gone, Mexico will be wrapped up and then there’s Texas and Vidalia,” she says. “I’ve heard Texas is down overall in acreage so it’s going to feel like there are a lot of onions and then, suddenly, there’s not. It’s temporary and these are temporary price changes that don’t last because other growers are trying to move product. They’re not in the market year-round and for us, it’s staying steady and offering good competitive prices year-round.”
For more information:
Jessica Peri
Peri & Sons Farms
Tel: +1 (775) 463-4444
[email protected]
http://www.periandsons.com/