GREENCASTLE, PA - Critical insights on the onion category have come to light as Keystone Fruit Marketing’s Commodity Manager Matthew Gideon recently sat down with Sales and Marketing Manager Andrea Scroggs to discuss the state of the current market and the supplier’s forecast for its current Mexico and upcoming Texas onion seasons.
“The onion market is very strong right now and is projected to remain so through the spring season,” Gideon noted when asked about the general onion market. “The domestic storage crop is at record lows, and the domestic Mexican market is extremely strong. The Peruvian season has a few more weeks left. We are winding down our season and should be finished with our Peru crop by the end of March. We have begun transitioning our sweet onion customers from Peru to Mexico and anticipate a smooth transition throughout the month of March.”
Gideon continued, “I believe the onion industry was changing pre-COVID, and COVID only accelerated that evolution. Growers only planting for confirmed sales, labor challenges, the general price of onions in stores—all of these factors have drastically changed the planning procedures and outlook when it comes to our grower partners. At Keystone, we include our growers in all of our decisions regarding our retail partners. One of our biggest concerns is certainty of supply, and we want to make sure we can provide our customers with that assurance.”
The year-round onion supplier is reporting a solid crop for this year’s Mexico season, with no quality issues and similar volume to years past, according to a press release. In addition, the company is anticipating its supply out of Texas to go through April and into May.
“We have additional growers in our supply program for 2022, and we are excited about the Texas crop. We should see some volume by mid-March and will increase volume from there,” Gideon added.
Beyond ramping up its supply from Mexico and Texas with the help of its grower partners, Gideon also revealed some other key changes to its program this year.
“We also have begun to increase our volume of organic Mexican onions and will have them during our spring season,” Gideon explained. “The onion landscape and purchasing habits are changing, and we are constantly trying to increase our consumer pack output.”
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