Onion Market Update June 27, 2023
By John Harris
It has been awhile since I last updated. New Mexico is in full swing and Central California is slowly coming online after wet weather and replants this spring. I am expecting the California crop to go a little later into the summer and fall than we typically see because of the late start. New Mexico usually finishes up their major volume by the end of July.
Washington will be coming online around late July with acres in the ground similar to the last several years. Reports are that they have had a good growing season with a nice upcoming crop. Idaho/Eastern Oregon sounds like they are a few weeks behind on what sounds like a big crop, with their production scheduled to start mid-August. Nevada, New York, Wisconsin, Michigan and Canada all sound like their crop is coming along nicely as well, with typical harvest schedules in the coming weeks and months.
So far, the month of June has felt a little sluggish in terms of movement. There has been an overwhelming amount of Mexican imports in the last month which has kept the market from being a bit stronger domestically. As far as quality and availability, it has been a very good year to this point, overall. Medium sizes have been sporadic in availability, particularly medium reds. As we get into spring seeded onions out of New Mexico, size is expected to continue to be large and availability on medium sizes will likely continue to be snug. We are anticipating a market rise on yellows as we head into and following the 4th of July, with things to likely come back down as we head into the back end of July with Washington coming online and California increasing supplies.
I’ll follow up with another update in the coming weeks as we have a clearer picture of what the end of July and beginning of August looks like. I’m currently in New Mexico visiting growers and looking at the current crop. Please let me know if you need anything or have any questions. Have a great week.
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.
