In the last Dutch official export week statistics of the 2020-’21 season, most onions harvested in Holland and deemed for exportation were sold to The Gambia.
The Gambia received more than 1,800 tons of onions in week 26, according to Holland’s online outlet boerderij.nl, which specializes in agriculture.
The tonnage export to The Gambia is an impressive increase, given that the previous weeks have an average of more than 400 tonnes per week.
According to boerderij.nl, it may be that in week 26, the last old harvest of onions was delivered before the demand fell away in connection with the Feast of Sacrifice (Eid Ul Adha).
In addition to sales in The Gambia, other African countries such as Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire, and Congo are on the market in week 26, but these are not large quantities.
Senegal that produces onion locally, has close its seaports to onion from abroad. If the country reopens for onion importations, larger quantities of onions can return to Africa. It is expected that the first onions from Holland will be allowed into Senegal at the beginning of September.
The weekly volume of onion export from Holland decreased by 7,816 tonnes in week 26. According to preliminary figures from the Vegetable Fruit House, the average weekly sales this season were 22,619 tonnes. A record 1.2 million tonnes of onions have been sold. In the 2019-’20 season, 1.19 million onions were exported.
