UNITED STATES – Suppliers are remaining steadfast in the face of a strong onion market with pricing expected to increase as the storage deal continues to deplete their available volumes. Last year’s summer heat wave dealt a challenging season for many growers across the country, but all are determined to continue delivering on quality through and through.
Growers tell us that current supplies are coming from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, New York, California, and Mexico, but the overall message seems to be consistent across the board.
“Supplies are on the lower end of the spectrum, but most businesses are trying to stay steady and focus on maintaining their quality level and customer base,” said Anthony Mazzuca, Sales, Tanimura & Antle. “Overall, we expect pricing to remain at or above current levels between now and late-April after we kick off our Yuma deal.”
Both Jessica Peri, Retail Sales Manager for Yerington, Nevada-based Peri & Sons, and Delbert Gehrke, Vice President of Farm for Hermiston, Oregon-based River Point Farms, felt that the summer heat negatively affected supplies for onions this year.
“The weather was hot and we did see that caused yields to be down slightly,” said Peri. “Even when Mother Nature throws us challenges we always do our best to deliver the quality we are known for and not deviate from our standards.”
“The summer of 2015 was the hottest summer on record during the last 30 years in the Columbia Basin,” said Gehrke. “This resulted in some challenges for the 2015 Columbia Basin onion crops, as we typically do not see more than a couple days over 100 degrees for the entire summer.”
Stefan Matheny, River Point’s Director of Sales, corroborated these reports, noting, “NOA stocks on hand for February showed supply out of the Pacific Northwest and many regions being down compared to 2015.”
Despite the decrease in supply, growers have been reporting that they are satisfied with the quality so far and continue to keep business steady.
Matheny added that River Point Farms’ late storage varieties are performing well. Similarly, Peri said that the company is content with the quality it has seen so far.
“Overall, we are happy with our quality,” said Peri. “We have seen more translucent scales in the yellows this year than in years past and we attribute this to the hot summer, especially during harvest. Reds and whites – quality has been great, no complaints.”
For any further updates on the onion market, stay tuned to AndNowUKnow.
