Sweet onion surplus offers promotional opportunities
This year’s sweet onion market has begun with supply exceeding demand.
“Based on this, we feel it will be a strong year for retailers to run aggressive promos,” Brooks, Ore.-based Curry & Co. president Matt Curry said.
The Vidalia, Ga., sweet onion crop started off earlier than usual due to a mild spring leading up to harvest.
“There were rains in April that slowed harvest a little, but we are seeing nice quality onions coming from the field,” Curry said. “We have had consistent quality on all of our storage onions as well. Onion pricing is aggressive right now on sweet onions.”
On May 5, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported prices of $11-14 for a 40-pound bag of No. 1 yellow granex sweet onions from Vidalia, Ga., down from $12-17 last year at the same time.
John Shuman, president of Shuman Produce, Reidsville, Ga., said the 2017 Vidalia onion season is very similar to the 2016 season in terms of quality and yield.
“The Vidalia onion industry experienced nearly perfect growing conditions this year, with a mild fall and winter,” he said. “Quality and yields are trending excellent through late-April harvest. We anticipate moving from fresh season to storage around the middle to late May.”
Dan Borer, general manager for Keystone Fruit Marketing Inc. in Greencastle, Pa., agreed the Vidalia onion crop has good quality. He said that the season started the last week of March — a first for the area — which normally starts 14 days later. Borer attributed the early start to exceptionally warm weather in the East.
The Georgia Department of Agriculture’s mandated pack date for Vidalia onions this year was April 12, as compared to April 26 in 2016.
Keystone will be promoting its red sweet onion program under the Melange label out of Georgia this season. This is the fourth season for this product, which the company has increased in volume.
“We’re trying to give it year-round availability,” Borer said. “The characteristics are an Italian flat onion shape. It looks good and has a mild, sweet taste. It’s best fresh.”
He said the red onion is a strong option because of its high sugar content and storability. “It’s better for cooking than a yellow sweet,” Borer said.
Bland Farms is three-quarters of the way through its Vidalia onion harvest, said Delbert Bland, president of the Glennville, Ga.-based company.
“Weather has been excellent, quality has been good and we’ve had an above average yield,” Bland said. “This should hold throughout the season.”
Bland Farms harvests its Vidalia crop from April into the first half of May. Then product is put into short-term storage to ship through late August.
Bland said the company recently planted its Peruvian sweet onion crop, which is up 10% due to demand increase. Weather has been favorable so far for growing conditions in the country.
“Typically, a good Vidalia season tends to roll over into the Peru crop,” he said. “If customers are used to buying flat sweet onions that taste good, they will get the same thing from Peru.”
