EURONION 
European Onion Association 

Germany: Crop area with spring sown onions slightly expanded in 2023

(AMI) - According to the annual survey of the German Onion Association (Fachverband Deutsche Speisezwiebel e.V.) in cooperation with AMI, it emerges that in 2023 slightly more seed for spring sown onions (+ 5 %) was sold than in the previous year. According to the Federal Statistical Office, in 2022 crop area with onions (dry onions without spring onions, incl. shallots) reached a total of 15,068 ha. The area of winter sown onions was estimated to remain unchanged at 250 ha, and a slight increase was assumed for set onions at 460 ha. This left an area of 14,358 ha for summer onions in the previous year. For the 2023 harvest, after a 5% increase in cultivation, an area of around 15,000 ha of summer onions can be expected.

However, there are different developments in terms of colour and cultivation method. The increase is due only to brown conventional spring sown onions (+7.4%). The sales volume of red varieties remained unchanged, and for organic onions there was even a decline in the quantity of seed sold of around 9%. This means that the share of red onions in the area for summer seed onions has fallen by 0.5 percentage points and is now only 10.2 %; for organic seed the share has fallen by 1.3 percentage points to an even 8 %.

The shift in cultivation towards red onions and organic onions from previous years has come to a standstill for the time being. This is also a reaction to the course of the 2022/23 season. The market was sufficiently supplied with organic onions, and a price increase as with conventional brown onions could not be implemented here. As a result, the price gap to conventional onions decreased significantly. Nevertheless, the decline in area is estimated at a maximum of 5 % in the sector. Organic seed was scarce, so that depending on the variety, untreated conventional seed could also be used in some cases. Some market participants also doubt an area restriction due to the strong demand for organic onions in the 2022/23 season. Sales of red onions were also not quite as brisk as those of brown onions, some were marketed later than yellow onions and did not benefit to the same extent from the price increase.

(September 22, 2023)