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Onion Market Update 4/2/2024
By John Harris
Another month has passed, and we have already made it to the second quarter of 2024. It’s been a wild 4+ months, and the expectation is about how much further we must go with this up-and-down volatility.
Prices on whites have managed to drop quite a lot. Jumbo whites are in the mid $30 FOB range, while medium whites have taken a more significant hit and are down to the lower $20’s. Interestingly, as Mexican supplies dry up and there is only a small crop of whites in Texas, we’ll see this thing get tight again in 10 days.
From a new crop perspective, reds and yellows have been relatively stable and hold steady FOBs. The market has come down slightly over the last six weeks, but so slowly that it was almost unnoticeable. Reds have been virtually unchanged, really, and the volume is sparse. Medium reds have been hard to find in any volume, which has been a constant for over a month. Mexico’s volume push is coming down as Texas is coming on. Volume shouldn’t change a lot daily, other than the region it is coming from.
The Northwest is on its last leg this month with any supply that will be measurable, and every week we get closer to May, there will be less open market supply. Prices have come down a tad on yellows to stay in line with delivered prices out of Mexico, while interestingly enough, prices have inched up on reds as supplies have dwindled to next to nothing. There is a push to move a few medium yellows right now on the last of the storage supplies, so if there are needs, some supplies are looking to be moved. It won’t last long, so now is the time to act if you need them.
When I update again in a couple of weeks, we’ll be about a week or so out from Southern California getting going, and before we know it, New Mexico will be firing up. Canada and New York are about to become big factors on the buying side and will keep this market strong, so don’t expect things to get easier or less tricky to navigate on a daily and weekly basis.
Have a great week, and as always, I value any feedback that you feel like sending my way.
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.
