|
Click to listen to this article
|
Onion Market Update for Oct. 18, 2022
By John Harris
Harvest is basically complete minus a few acres here and there. Mother Nature cooperated this year and harvest conditions have been nearly perfect for the last 2 weeks, allowing just about everyone to get their crop under roof in the Northwest. Overall consensus is that the deal is definitely short, especially in Idaho-Eastern Oregon.
The market pressed down during the harvest push, but we have seen the market steady out over the last 10 days which is welcomed. This has been one of the more difficult falls that I’ve experienced, trying to sort the market with prices really being all over the place from shed to shed and region to region.
Yellows – The jumbo yellow and larger deal is going to be somewhat tight all year I believe. The market has actually bounced back up just a little bit from 10 days ago and is now pretty steady. There are buyers still looking for cheaper deals, but these growers have no motivation to sell for a discount right now.
The jumbo market has a better chance of going up than it does of going down from now until the end of the season as far as I’m concerned. Medium yellows are in the opposite boat. They’re too many of them in too many places and prices are reflective. The market is steady on the most part, but it’s cheap. Chances are that it’ll remain that way for the next 6 months.
Whites – The white market is very steady. Demand is good and prices have been pretty solid for about a month now. Overall quality this year has been pretty dang good. Idaho-Eastern Oregon grew a quality of white onion this year that I didn’t know they were capable of growing. A tip of the hat to those growers in that region that have seemed to figure out the right formula for a retail-quality white onion to add to their mix.
Reds – Same as yellows, the jumbo deal is in a good solid situation with steady movement and price. Mediums are too many and the price again is reflective. It’s probably going to be this way all season from the looks of it and jumbo size is going to get pressed down at a lot of packing sheds. We saw it last year, and it should be expected again this year as well.
Have a great week. I’ll be back towards the end of the month with another update.
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.
