Market Update

Market Snapshot*

The U.S. Department of Agriculture was reporting the following prices on onions from Idaho and Malheur County, Oregon:

Yellow: 50-pound sacks, super colossal, $12-13; colossal, $8-9; jumbo, mostly $7.50-8; medium, $7-7.50.

White: 50-pound sacks, large, mostly $20; medium, mostly $20.

Red: 25-pound sacks, large, $7.50; medium, $6.50.

* Prices from the USDA's Fruit & Vegetable Market News, Sept. 3.

The Shipping Scene

Although Idaho's onion harvest is just getting under way, early reports from grower-shippers indicate that quality should be very good this year, though volume likely will be down slightly from last season.

Central Produce Distributors Inc. in Payette harvested its first onions Sept. 2, and general manager Ray Burzota said yields seemed normal and quality was good.

Just about everybody was running about two weeks behind schedule because of a cool spring, he said.

The start date for Central Produce was significantly later than last year's Aug. 13, but the harvest started unusually early in 2007, Burzota said. Packing usually starts around Aug. 25.

The area has not had much rain in recent months, and he was hoping for a dry harvest.

"We're seeing OK size," he said -- not as good as last year, but better than 2006.

From 85% to 90% of the company's onions are yellow varieties, 10% are red and 3% to 5% are white.

Burzota described current prices on Idaho onions as "decent."

"I feel a little bit better about this year," he said. Last year's prices were "terrible" because of an oversupply.

"We won't have as much volume this year, and I hope we will have better quality," he said.

Central Produce will start diverting onions to storage around Sept. 22, and Burzota said onions should be available until mid- to early March.

Champion Produce Sales Inc. in Parma started its onion harvest last week with volume heavy on yellow and red jumbos, said president John Wong.

Sizing seemed to be down compared to last year, and the start date was two weeks later because of the cool spring, he said.

Quality is excellent, Wong added. "The onions seem to have very good skin on them."

Frost in the spring after the onions were planted took some of the vigor out of the young seedlings. As a result, Wong expected yields to be down about 20% this year.

A mild summer without excessively high temperatures helped make up for some of the cool spring conditions. Growing conditions were similar throughout the Northwest, he said.

The onion deal was off to a slow start at Wada Farms Marketing Group LLC in Idaho Falls, said John Vlahandreas, national onion sales director.

"We're easing into the onion deal this year," he said.

The Idaho/Oregon onion program will be characterized by less acreage and lower yields than last year, he said.

Unlike past seasons, growers won't be under pressure this year to move their early onions out quickly to assure that there is enough room for their storage onions, he said. With the smaller yields this year, there should be plenty of storage space available.

The majority of Wada Farms' onions are yellow varieties followed by reds and whites. The company also offers a sweet onion from the region.

Vlahandreas said it was too early to predict prices, but he seemed optimistic because of the lower volume.

"We're going to see a higher September price than we've seen in a few years," he said.

Onions were priced from $7 to $8 this week, he said, and he expected prices to stabilize somewhere in that range over the next week or so.

Although freight costs remained high, Vlahandreas was pleased that the value of the onions will be higher.

"It's hard to sell when freight rates are higher than the cost of the product," he said.

"There are a lot of positives his year," he added, and that should make onions easier to sell and more attractive to buy.

The Idaho-Eastern Oregon Onion Committee in Parma, Idaho, will continue to promote the region's onions as good, healthful and profitable menu choices through events such as the VIP onion tour Sept. 24-27 for up to 15 foodservice and retail onion buyers.

In October, the committee will take part in a co-op promotion with the U.S. Pork Board.

(By Tom Burfield, Western correspondent for The Packer. The Packer and Red Book Credit Services are part of food360º, a division of Vance Publishing Corp., Lincolnshire, Ill.)