By Mark Wocial, Certified Global Business Professional, Wocial & Associates LLC
After three years of increases in volume, U.S. imports of fresh onions and shallots declined last year to 534,000 metric tons (MT), valued at $426 million. In comparison, the U.S. exported 264,000 MT, valued at $219 million. Thus, the U.S. international trade deficit in fresh onions amounted to over $200 million.
Mexico remained the dominant supplier of fresh onions and shallots to the U.S. However, after many years of increases, and a record high of 353,000 MT in 2018, imports from Mexico dropped to 305,000 MT in 2019, valued $314 million. Last year, Mexico accounted for 57 percent of U.S. imports by volume.
Imports from Peru, the second largest supplier to the U.S., continued their steady growth and increased from 115,000 MT in 2016 to a record high of 156,000 MT in 2019, valued at $61 million. Last year, imports from Peru accounted for 29 percent of all U.S. fresh onion imports, up from 22 percent in 2016.
Imports from Canada were fairly unchanged in volume and market share in the past three years. They amounted to 56,000 MT in 2019, valued at $37 million. As a result, Canada accounted for 10 percent of U.S. imports by volume.
Together, Mexico, Peru and Canada accounted for 96 percent of all U.S. imports of fresh onions and shallots last year. However, there were significant differences in the value of imports per metric ton. While imports from Mexico were valued at $1,030/MT, imports from Canada were valued at $662/MT and imports from Peru at only $392/MT.
After a spike to 9,000 MT in 2017, imports of fresh onions and shallots from the Netherlands amounted to 6,600 MT in 2019, valued at $6 million. Imports from China remained fairly unchanged in the past several years and amounted to 3,000 MT last year. Other suppliers to the U.S. included France (2,500 MT), Spain (1,800 MT) and Chile (1,600 MT). In addition, 10 other countries supplied less than 1,000 MT each.
Author’s note: This information is based on the author’s analysis of the international trade data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau Foreign Trade Division.
