By Mark Wocial, Certified Global Business Professional, Wocial & Associates LLC
According to estimates found in the U.N. international trade statistics database, imports of fresh onions by countries in the Caribbean region increased from approximately 36,000 metric tons (MT) in 2010 to 46,000 MT in 2017, valued at $16 million. The Netherlands dominates the Caribbean onion trade. In the five-year period from 2013 to 2017, exports from the Netherlands accounted, on average, for 87 percent of the region’s imports. In 2017, Dutch exports reached 40,000 MT, valued at approximately $12 million. In contrast, despite geographic proximity, the U.S. exported only 1,500 MT, valued at $1.3 million. Between 2010 and 2017, U.S. exports showed no upward trend and averaged around 1,500 MT per year.
Haiti is currently the largest importer of onions in the region. In 2017, the country imported 13,700 MT, and the Netherlands supplied over 90 percent of those imports. Between 2013 and 2017, annual U.S. exports to Haiti were very inconsistent and ranged from none to 10 MT.
In 2017, Trinidad and Tobago was the second largest importer of onions in the Caribbean, and the country purchased an estimated 8,200 MT, supplied almost entirely by the Netherlands. The U.S. exported only 32 MT to the island.
Jamaica was the third largest import market, and the country purchased 7,700 MT, mostly from the Netherlands. There were almost no U.S. exports to Jamaica in 2017, and they averaged 6 MT annually in the five-year period from 2013 to 2017.
In 2017, the Dominican Republic was the fourth largest onion importer in the region. The country imported 6,100 MT, primarily from the Netherlands. Despite the fact that the U.S. has a free trade agreement with the Dominican Republic, U.S. exports averaged only 45 MT per year from 2013 to 2017.
The Bahamas is the largest market for U.S. onions in the Caribbean. In 2017, U.S. exports to the Bahamas amounted to 1,022 MT. The Cayman Islands were the second largest market (300 MT), followed by the Turks and Caicos Islands (44 MT), Barbados (39 MT) and the British Virgin Islands (38 MT). In addition, U.S. onions were exported to Sint Maarten (22), Aruba (16 MT), Antigua and Barbuda (9 MT), Saint Lucia (4 MT), Dominica (4 MT) as well as to St. Kitts and Nevis (3 MT).
Author’s note: This information is based on the author’s analysis of the international trade data collected by the United Nations International Trade Statistics Database and the U.S. Census Bureau Foreign Trade Division.
