Onion World: The Voice of the Onion Industry

Onion Pack/Ship/Export

U.S. Exports to Japan
At the launch of the season's U.S. onion exports to Japan, northwest exporters are puzzled but hopeful. Prices are good in the domestic market, but what can growers expect in terms of exports?

"I'm so confused this year," said Stuart Follen, an onion exporter out of Portland, Ore., and operator of S.L. Follen Company and Pacific Onion Company. He's been in the exporting business since the early 1980s, and in the past he's been able to figure out what he thinks the market will do. This year, though, his hands are up in the air.

For one thing, domestic prices are good, which discourages Japan from buying American. However, the demand is there. Japan can't grow enough onions to satisfy their market, so they must import. Japan imports mostly from the U.S. and China, with some from other countries.

"Onions are moving fairly active out of China because our prices are too high," Follen pointed out.

The U.S. onion export market runs usually from late September to February and March. The U.S. is able to sell some right now, Follen explained. "But certainly we should be selling a lot more."

"Some of the packers are discounting for export, which I've never seen in my life," Follen said. "In Washington at least, exports have become very important and they're a little leery to shut the customers out. They're trying to stay in the game."

Compacting this problem is competition-more specifically the proximity and availability of Chinese onions to Japan.

"There are a lot of Chinese onions into Japan right now, and they've had a pretty good late crop in western China," he said. "So that'll affect our market through October and maybe into November. It just depends on what happens internally in China." No doubt, keeping a watchful eye is critical.
-Carrie Kennington, editor, Onion World, special insert, Novemeber 2003.