This past winter, onion growers had a smaller storage crop to market (shipments were 10 percent below a year earlier), and also enjoyed relatively strong domestic and export demand (Jan-Feb 2001 export volume was up 17 percent). As a result, winter quarter shipping-point prices were 126 percent above the extreme lows of a year ago and 36 percent above the first quarter average of the past 5 years.

These higher prices reflected a smaller crop last fall, good storability and quality of the fall crop, strong domestic and export demand, and fewer imports from foreign suppliers such as Mexico and Peru.

With a strong and orderly conclusion to the marketing season for the fall storage crop, the transition to the spring onion crop is likely to see shipping-point prices remaining above the average of the previous 5 years ($14.13 per hundredweight, or cwt).

F.o.b. shipping-point prices in early April for jumbo yellow onions in south Texas were $8.00 per 50-pound sack (80 percent or more U.S. No. 1)-- up from $5.25 per sack a year earlier. Despite average prices last spring and a strong fall-season market (the spring crop is planted the previous fall), the 4 U.S. spring-onion states (Texas, Georgia, California, and Arizona) reduced planted area 8 percent this year. Planted area declined in each state, with cutting areas down the most in California (12 percent) and Georgia (10 percent).

In Texas and Georgia, although area planted is down, harvested area is expected to rise in each state. Last spring, acreage abandonment was larger than normal as heavy spring rains flooded some fields.

This year, despite cooler than normal weather, the Texas spring onion crop was in average condition with good quality expected. In Georgia, where the marketing focus is on the mild Vidalia onion, per-acre yields are expected to average below the record-high of last spring (255 cwt). In south Texas, where a large portion of the crop is geared toward mild onions such as the 1015 variety, cool, wet weather has brought the possibility of record yields. Unless wet weather increases crop losses, preliminary data indicate Texas yields could reach 320 cwt per acre, compared with last spring’s record-tying level of 310 cwt.

Although the first U.S. estimate of total spring onion production will be released on July 10, crop estimates are available for Georgia and Texas. With a small increase in acres harvested and record yields, the Texas onion crop is expected to rise 12 percent to 4.7 million cwt. In Georgia, unusually cold weather will bring lower yields and drop production 18 percent from last year. Spring-season supplies from the Rio Grande Valley and Georgia generally peak in April, with Texas supplies continuing into June. Georgia growers also place a portion of the perishable Vidalia crop into controlled-atmosphere storage for marketing during the fall.

Planted area for the summer onion crop is expected to decline 3 percent this year. All but two storage-type onion-producing States (states that store fresh dry-bulb onions for later marketing) are expected to plant less. Among the non-storage states (states that market fresh onions soon after harvest), onion acreage is expected to decline 5 percent, with area in Texas, the third largest non-storage state, down 27 percent.

For the storage crop, which provides the bulk of the nation’s onions into the next spring, growers were encouraged by improving prices last year, but are expected to exercise restraint when planting, cutting area 3 percent.

Most states are expected to reduce acreage, but Colorado growers intend to increase area 4 percent (Colorado growers had cut acreage 23 percent in 2000 because of financial losses). Growers in Oregon, the top fresh-market storage-onion state, expect to plant 3 percent more area this year after dropping 18 percent a year ago. Combining this increased area with average acreage losses and trend yields could produce an Oregon onion crop second only to the 1999 record.