|
Click to listen to this article
|
Onion Market Update April 19, 2023
By John Harris
It’s been a bit since I did a market update, and so much has transpired.
Texas has been an absolute mess over the past 3-4 weeks with untimely rains. As of today, we are finally back to a full lineup of all colors and sizes in a combination of Mexican and Texas products. Hundreds of acres have been walked away from and turned into insurance in the last month. With that, the markets have risen quite a bit, which is a good thing based on how cheap things were.
Southern California is still a couple of weeks away from significant volume, so we are just trying to get ourselves to that point. Washington and Idaho/Eastern Oregon are rapidly finishing and will be all but cleaned up by the end of the month. A few shippers will extend into May, but the volume will be very sparse. Georgia has also kicked off their season with yellows and Vidalia sweets. Georgian red onions are still a couple of weeks out due to cool temps slowing things down.
Yellows – There is good volume available currently in Georgia and Texas but supplies have dwindled dramatically in the Northeast. Quality in Georgia, to start, has been pretty good. Quality from Texas has also been excellent, but we may begin to see some issues in what is coming due to all the moisture they have been exposed to.
Reds – No reds in Georgia right now. There is still good volume of reds in the Northwest, and quality continues to be high to finish the season. Texas also seems to have plenty of red onions, and the quality has been sound.
Whites – The Northwest is almost wrapped up with whites for the season, and quality has dwindled. Texas has seen good availability and quality of whites coming up from Mexico. We’ve had great luck up to this point this season and expect that to continue.
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.
