Spanish onions are suffering the effects of mildew and small sizing as producers bemoan the arrival of cheap imports into Europe and a price slump.

The situation has been acutely felt in the eastern Spanish region of Valencia, where heavy overnight dew in April and high daytime temperatures have affected bulb development. The result is that some two-thirds of the crop in the region is not of marketable size.

Cristóbal Aguado, president of the producers’ organisation Ava-Asaja in Valencia, said: “The small sizes in the majority of the crop, and large volumes of imports from South America - at cheaper prices - have collapsed the first few weeks of the onion season. A lot of growers have decided to plough their crop back in, rather than give it away at rock bottom prices.”

The situation could not be more different from last year, when the onion market across Europe was tight and growers achieved prices of €0.30 (24p) a kilo, compared to just €0.18 this year. The small sizing of the crop has also had an impact on exports to markets such as the UK, and so product in Spain is competing with last season’s stored crop, as well as South American imports.

Meanwhile, in the UK, Jonathan Tole of the British Onion Producers’ Association reports that supply and demand are in balance. “We are finishing the season about six to eight weeks earlier than last year because of the wet weather in the summer last year affecting yields and storability,” said Tole. “Most growers in the UK have managed their crops well and we will move into supplies from Tasmania and New Zealand over the next two to three weeks. The Spanish situation could be having an impact on the wider market but we are not really feeling it in the UK.”

According to Spanish ministry figures, the onion category has seen the third largest price drop year on year with a decline of 7.51 per cent, while this time last year prices were up 35 per cent on the same point in 2006. “Imports did not help compensate the fall in volume last season and prices shot up,” said Aguado. “Only with a strong sector that is not subject to the oscillations in production which lead to price crises can steady, good quality supply at stable prices be guaranteed for all.”

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