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Overall Market and Demand is Softening Up
By John Harris
I spent the week in Washington last week doing grower visits. It’s always worth the trip to get to the field and into the packing sheds. The time spent with our packers in person is always well worth the time and energy. The overall market and demand is softening up as we get later into September. The demand and prices we have been experiencing the last month is really unprecedented so even though this year’s storage crop is pretty short, it’s not a big surprise that the market is less aggressive than it was two weeks ago.
Yellow Onions – There are plenty of medium yellows available right now across all growing districts in US and Canada right now. I wouldn’t call it a glut as yields are down, but finding availability on mediums is pretty easy at the moment. Sourcing regionally is a great option right now on mediums. The jumbo market has softened its stance and I think in the next couple of weeks, we’ll find a steady price that will work for the next several months as the mostly price in the Northwest. Colossal yellows continue to be scarce in much load volume and that price remains firm and a fair amount above the jumbo market. Supers are available here and they are in pallet volume in Idaho-Eastern Oregon. I don’t think we’ll see any super availability at all in WA this year. Most shippers are getting into long day varieties and we should see really consistent quality being shipped across the board going forward.
White Onions – With whites only being available in a few growing areas, this market is remaining very steady. Availability is good, but as demand ebbs and flows, so does availability. There seems to be a good mix of both mediums and jumbos with just about the right mix on size profile to keep a steady market. I’m expecting the white market to maintain current levels though Christmas at this point. Overall, we are seeing nice quality right now.
Red Onions – There seems to be a fair amount of red onions in the market right now. With that being said, the market is pretty darn steady on jumbos. However, there are a few extra medium reds around with the smaller profile this year. Quality has been pretty good on reds and expect it to only improve as we get into the longer day onions. We saw some beautiful fields of reds last week and overall the sizing seemed heavier to jumbos which should be good for the growers and a steady market.
I’ll report again next week. I expect to see this market become steady across the board in the coming week across all colors and sizes going into October, giving us a clearer picture of what to expect going into the winter months.
Editors Note: John Harris is the president and founder of Paradigm Fresh and Colorado Cold Connect in Fort Morgan, Colorado. He can be reached at John@paradigmfresh.com.
