International trade in onions is enormous and the Netherlands is already one of the largest onion producers in the world.

The country has a production of around 1 million tonnes, of which 800,000t are exported.

Lijn Moredijk, director of packer MSP Uienhandel BV, told delegates there remains room for growth, simply because of the increase in the world’s population.

As a result, new production areas in the Netherlands are opening up - competing with the traditional heart of the industry in the south of the country.

Poland is also a significant player, with an established 700,000t crop, of which around 15 per cent is sold to mainly eastern European countries.

While it is now turning its attention to western Europe, Professor Frank Adamicki, deputy director of the Vegetable Crops Institute at Skierniewice, believes it will be many years before the full impact of the industry will be harnessed.

He told delegates that there were still 200,000 growers with small farms which had survived during the communist regime by using cheap black market labour.

There was still a lack of irrigation, variable quality and poor communication makes it difficult to organise marketing campaigns.

However, several packers later told FPJ that Poland already enjoys a good reputation and meets UK quality standards, mainly due to its climatic conditions. Over the last three years exports to the UK have ranged from 17,000 to 27,000t.

There are also signs that new marketing infrastructures are being built. One example is Onix, SP Zoo, a grower group and processor, which has a UK office and EurepGAP certification. Simon West, managing director of Onix (Marketing) has seen sales of fresh and processed onions reaching £7m.

With competition set to intensify, delegates were pleased to hear there will be little threat from China over the next few years.

John Chapple, director of Sino Analytica, a commercial residue analysis laboratory in China, provides services for exporters and said if the country can capitalise on its 600,000t crop, it will be to send it to Japan ahead of other markets.

However that is also some time off, he said, as China consumes all the food it can produce.

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