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Onion Market Update 4/16/2024
By John Harris
A couple of weeks have gone by, and a lot has changed since my last update. Storage crop is just about finished. For the most part, we should see most of the open market storage crop completed by the end of this month.
Mexico should be done with its heavy volume, and we should see import numbers dwindle significantly this week. Texas is probably close to 80% done with their harvest and it looks like they’ll finish up with big volume by the first week of May. Imperial Valley in California will kick off with yellows next week and see reds and whites a week later. On a good note, the quality of Texas and Mexican onions this year has really been very good. We have had virtually no issues, and the issues we have seen are typical of new crop, with a bit of greening in whites and sunscald in reds here and there. Nothing out of the ordinary has been a major issue so far.
The storyline of 2024 was whites being virtually non-existent at the beginning of the year. The story continues and has now shifted to red onions. There seems to be just enough to take care of mixers with a full load dribbling out here and there, but it has been extremely hard for the past several weeks to get enough. I would expect this shortage to subside to some degree as California comes online with more volume in a couple of weeks. Until then, it’s going to remain pretty slim. The yellow and white market has slowly, over the past 6 weeks, come down to earth, and we are seeing around average to slightly above market prices on those items for this time of year. The red market will come back down to earth eventually, but it’s going to be a few weeks before that relief arrives. With the Northeast being short this year on their crop, there is going to be more buyers in the market for the rest of the spring and summer and that will likely keep prices trading at good levels on all sizes and colors for the next several months.
I’ll be around to answer any questions as we transition from Texas to California, and then over to New Mexico. As always, I appreciate any input or insight that you may have to offer. 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.
