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Onion Market Update September 19, 2023
By John Harris
We have made it to September and are back in full swing with storage onions. I am always relieved when we get out of the fresh crop and into long-day onions. Size, quality and consistency, along with packing sheds that have millions and millions of dollars wrapped up in their storage and packing operation, make business easier to count on week-in and week-out.
The day-to-day market, generally speaking, becomes very steady and more predictable daily and week-to-week. It’s always moving here and there, but we are out of weather swings and variety changes that make one size go from plentiful to non-existent. Don’t get me wrong, I love the challenge of the fresh crop and the growers we deal with, but from a business and operational standpoint, storage crop is always easier to manage. The big market jumps become more predictable the further into the season we get, as we have the storage crop numbers to make those predictions.
I just returned from a visit to Idaho-Eastern Oregon and Washington last week and it was a great trip, as always. My overall assessment is that quality looks really fantastic and harvest is going well, generally speaking. Idaho-Eastern Oregon had some challenges to work through with the moisture they received a few weeks ago, but last week, it was hot and dry, and harvest conditions were at a premium. For the rest of 2023, we can expect solid, consistent quality and a steady market. After the first of the year, there will likely be some volatility in this market for several reasons, but I’ll save that for future updates.
Yellows – Overall quality has been hit-and-miss as we transition from intermediate to long-day varieties. In the coming weeks, we should have nothing but long-day onions everywhere, consistency should clean up rapidly, and we’ll see overall good quality across the board. Right now, having a good understanding between an intermediate and a long-day onion and what type of quality you expect to get is paramount to ensuring you aren’t buying the wrong onion for your needs.
Whites – Quality has also been a little loose to start the season. Whites have different uses and buyers, and the quality across the board is a little all over the place, depending on buyer expectations. Just like yellows, as we round into October we’ll see more consistency across the board develop. Knowing what you are buying and what your expectations are when making the purchase are very important with white onions.
Reds – Quality has probably been the most consistent for me on reds, with fewer issues. I have also found reds to be pretty tight to start the season, and I expect that trend to continue. Size seems to be heavier to jumbos, with medium reds being a challenge to find in load volume occasionally.
I hope you have a great week and, as always, appreciate any feedback on anything that you have to offer in addition to my outlook.
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.
