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Onion Market Update 3/19/2024
By John Harris
Another update. The market volatility continues to be unmatched by anything I have really ever been a part of. It’s not the FOB price point any longer, but rather, a completely unsettled FOB spread that is day- to-day and shed-to-shed on every size and color, it seems.
The Northwest storage crop can’t be written off as finished yet, but they are rapidly approaching the finish line. Idaho/Eastern Oregon is nearly complete with its season and will be pretty much wrap over the next few weeks. Washington has some volume to get through for the next couple of months, but a decent amount of that volume is pre-committed, so only a handful of what is left will be available on the open market. Mexico is full steam ahead, and Texas is just getting going with volume likely to be onboard the first week of April. Texas volume will coincide with Mexico volume coming down, so don’t expect any price relief, as these two areas likely won’t have to compete with each other this year. Mexico has had tremendous quality to begin the season with, which continues with ideal temperatures and no pressure from Mother Nature. Texas experienced its first weather event over the weekend, with hail and heavy rain. The storm’s effects on availability and quality will be felt as we enter the first week of April. It’s a big valley, so it will be a field-by-field basis based on what adverse effects will come from the storm. Mother Nature sure brought it at the worst possible time for a place that has been praying for moisture.
On to onions and markets… Let’s start with the low-hanging fruit—medium reds. There just aren’t any! Not old crop, not new crop. If you get your hands on some, you are one of the lucky few. I hope this changes as Texas brings its crop to market in the next ten days, but I don’t expect any abundance of them whatsoever. There is, however, reasonably good availability of jumbo reds right now on both old-crop and new-crop onions. Loose jumbo reds on retail shelves may be how things have to be for much of the summer. With Canada and New York as buyers that don’t typically buy, along with the rest of the U.S., there will be more demand than supply of medium reds until August.
On the yellow front, this market has generally held steady on old crops. Prices ticked down slightly a few weeks ago but have held steady. Jumbos are plentiful, while mediums have been a bit scarce. New crop has been a rollercoaster. Prices have slowly declined over the last several weeks, but they seem to bounce up and down daily and from shed-to-shed. Jumbos and colossals are mostly plentiful, with medium yellows generally tight. I’d expect this trend to continue on sizing as Texas starts. As far as the market goes, I expect it to continue to bounce around daily, but I won’t be surprised if it goes up in April. I also won’t be surprised if mediums become more expensive than jumbos this year, with the demand coming from New York and Canada in the coming weeks.
White onions have been on a gentle slide down for a month, but we still have an excellent market. As demand has slowly come back online, the market has stabilized and is finding some footing. Don’t get me wrong, prices and quality are still pretty variable, but the market collapsing fears and buyer concerns seem to be fading. Generally speaking, the quality has been outstanding in the last several weeks. You get what you pay for in this market, so buying based on customer expectations is essential.
As always, I love getting any feedback you may have, so please call or email me. I hope you 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.
