Bad Onion Harvest Makes Poland a Net Importer

Fresh Onion

Vegetables

Netherlands

Poland

Published Dec 2, 2019

A very bad harvest in the fall of 2019 has led to shortages in the Polish onion market. The bad harvest was caused by a severe lack of rain and high temperatures, making the onions too small to export. These shortages will make Poland into a net importer rather than a net exporter.

Poland is a major powerhouse in the European onion market. During the 2018/2019 season, the company increased its exported value by 104% due to high prices on the continent. However this year, the quality and quantity of the harvest have decreased, making Poland a net importer rather than a net exporter of the vegetable. It is expected that the beginning of 2020 will see a shortage of onions in Poland.

Ping-Pong Onions

The onion harvesting season ended in September, but many farmers are not satisfied with the results. The onion harvest has decreased from 565K tons in 2018 to 525K tons. Furthermore, the quality of the onions is very low this year. Due to a severe lack of rain, the onions that have appeared are very small and do not weigh enough to bring any profit for the farmers. These kinds of onions are called “ping-pongs” in Polish, due to their small size. The onions were also not harvested under the right weather conditions: it was extremely warm in August, which means that the onions harvested cannot be stored for a long time, due to high moisture contents.

From a Net Exporter to a Net Importer

During the 2018/2019 season, the harvest was also lower than expected, but prices were high. As harvest was disappointing all over Europe, Polish onions reached record-high prices: the highest since 2004 and more than twice as high compared to prices in 2017. Nevertheless, the lower harvest in 2018 led to onion shortages in the domestic market and Poland has had to import a lot of onions during the first half of 2019, making it a net importer of onions this year rather than a net exporter.

This 2019/2020 season, however, sees a good yield in the Netherlands, the European onion price-setter. Their yield is an estimated 600K ton more than last season’s yield, meaning that the European prices for onions are not very high. Prices in Poland, however, are high, hovering around USD 0.28 per kg. As a result of the bad harvest and the bad quality, it is expected that Poland will once again be a net importer for the first half of 2020.

Forecasts for the 2020 season

As the quality of the onions is bad and deteriorating even further whilst in storage, many exporters are still trying to earn money by processing them before export. The onions are peeled or diced before they are sent to close-by countries. This helps empty out storage spaces, where the whole, unprocessed onions are growing roots due to high humidity and overheated onions during the harvest period.

Exports during the first half of 2020 will be very low and Poland will have to import a lot of onions to meet domestic demand. Some of the imported onions are also used for processing and re-export. 2020’s exports can pick up if the fall harvest will be bountiful, but that is still too soon to tell.