Onions earn $16M for N.Z.

Press, 14 May 1981, Page 23

Onions earn $16M for N.Z.

PA < Auckland New Zealand onion growers have had their most profitable season and have earned a record $l6 million in overseas funds. “This has been a dream year for ' onion exports — there just has not been enough to meet the demand/’ the general manager of Turners and Growers, Mr Grahame Turner, said. “The world demand has been phenomenal. Some 40.000 tonnes have now been exported, mostly to Japan, but the European market demand was high and there was just not enough to go round.”

He said that last year 15,000 tonnes were exported, and that had been a struggle

because of the bad summer.

However, the weather this year, apart from a wet patch in early summer, had been perfect.’ "Growers took a risk, planted heavily — and the gamble paid off.” Even so. they failed to produce enough onions for both home and away markets.

The effect of the export boom had been to shorten onion supplies for the local market and to raise the price. Onions cost about $1 a kilogram this week, almost double that of three months and one year ago.

Prices. should return to their seasonal level as local supplies increased again after the export drain, Mr Turner said.