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By John Harris
Onion Market Update April 15, 2026
A lot has changed since my last update. Storage crop is still available, but generally speaking, the market has largely transitioned to new crop at this point.
Recent rains in Texas have tightened new crop supplies over the last 10 days. As a result, the market on whites and yellows has doubled in just a couple of weeks. Red pricing has increased as well, though not quite as dramatically as yellows and whites.
Mexico is still crossing onions daily, but the market there remains strong. This does a couple of things: it reduces the volume crossing into Texas, and it drives up pricing here in the U.S. on the onions that do come across. With crossings down from normal and Texas growers struggling to get into wet fields, demand is far outpacing supply, which has created a very hot market.
Prices have been depressed for such an extended period that there’s definitely some sticker shock as the market has risen so quickly. Diesel prices across the country are running north of $5.00–$6.00 per gallon, and freight costs are significantly higher on a per-mile basis than what we’ve been used to, adding further pressure to delivered costs.
The Georgia Vidalia season is underway, and they’re just starting to bring some conventional onions to market as well. Imperial Valley in Southern California is also getting started with light volume, which should increase significantly over the next couple of weeks.
The forecast in Texas is dry for the next week. As growers are able to get back into the fields, availability should begin to improve out of the Rio Grande Valley heading into next week. That said, I don’t believe supplies will become so ample that the market makes any major downward adjustments in the near term, though we could see yellows and whites soften slightly.
Delivered costs from California into eastern markets may also influence FOB pricing, but there isn’t enough volume there yet to confidently predict how that will play out.
Overall, new crop quality has been pretty good. The rain in Texas hasn’t been excessive enough to cause major quality concerns, but it will likely push size profiles larger. Because of that, I expect medium-sized onions out of Texas to be very tight in the coming weeks.
At this point, it looks like we should settle in for above-average markets through much of the summer.
As always, I appreciate your comments and feedback. 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.