Why prices are moving
Well above normalWhy are onion prices falling right now?
$14.00-15.00 per 50 lb sack FOB, Oct 16, 2026, at the benchmark spec. The market has fallen 3 straight weeks.
Data through Oct 16, 2026 · source last checked Oct 17, 2026 · page revised Oct 17, 2026
Cite
- Comparison midpoint
- USDA mostly / low-high range
About this data
- Source
- USDA AMS shipping-point onion FOB reports (FV130)
- Series
- Yellow jumbo onions, 50 lb sacks, Idaho-Eastern Oregon, FOB
- Basis
- FOB shipping point, low-high range
- Geography
- Idaho-Eastern Oregon
- Unit
- $/50 lb sack
- Last observation
- Oct 16, 2026
- Update frequency
- USDA reports on business days, in season
The benchmark (yellow jumbo, 50 lb sacks, Idaho-Eastern Oregon) is quoted at $14.00-15.00 per 50 lb sack and has fallen 3 consecutive weeks, down 9.4% on the comparison midpoint since Sep 25, 2026. Idaho and Oregon shipped 672 units of 10,000 pounds on Oct 15, 2026 (USDA movement). 4 origins are currently quoting FOB prices. The market is at the start of the storage-crop season, when the Northwest harvest normally resets supply.
The benchmark fell 9.4% from Sep 25 through Oct 16 in three consecutive weeks as the storage-crop season opened and the Northwest harvest reset supply. Current prices at $14.00-15.00, 50-lb sacks, remain 70.6% above the 5-year median.
| Period | Current | Prior | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week over week | $14.50 | $14.50 | 0.0% |
| Month over month | $14.50 | $16.00 | -9.4% |
| Year over year | $14.50 | $6.75 | +114.8% |
| vs 5-yr median | $14.50 | $8.50 | +70.6% |
Previous weeks
An earlier week
The benchmark, $14.00-15.00 per 50 lb sack, has fallen 3 straight weeks, down 9.4% since Sep 24 as the storage-crop season begins and Northwest supply resets. Despite the decline, the market sits 70.6% above its 5-year median. Idaho and Oregon shipped 710 units of 10,000 pounds on Oct 14.
Week of Oct 9, 2026
Prices are falling as the storage crop harvest reaches market at the start of the season. The benchmark, yellow jumbo 50 lb sacks from Idaho-Eastern Oregon, has dropped 6.5% on the week and 9.4% since Sep 18, now at $14.00-15.00 per sack. Idaho and Oregon shipped 570 units of 10,000 pounds on Oct 8 (USDA movement), typical of the supply reset that marks the harvest opening. The market still sits 52.6% above the 5-year median.
An earlier week
Onion prices at the benchmark spec have been broadly flat for 10 weeks, with no sustained move in either direction. For the current picture, see the weekly board.
What makes onion prices fall
Onion prices fall the way they rise, only with the calendar's help: every August a new storage crop arrives whether or not the market wants it, and that reset is the single most reliable downward force in this market.
The harvest reset comes first. When the Northwest storage crop comes in big and sound, led by Idaho-Eastern Oregon, the sheds fill, shippers compete for movement, and the benchmark spec typically sets its seasonal lows in the months right after harvest. The long-run trend page shows that sawtooth across years.
Heavy shipments keep the pressure on. Storage onions must move before quality declines, so a big crop creates its own selling pressure all winter: the movement volumes on the origin pages are the public read on how hard supply is pushing into the market.
Broad origin overlap is the competitive counterweight. When many origins quote at once, domestic storage, the spring crops and the import crossings together, buyers have alternatives and no single shipper can hold a price; the weekly board shows that breadth directly.
Import competition caps rallies and deepens declines. Crossings from Mexico and Peru arrive on their own production calendars, and when they land into an already-supplied domestic market, the added volume presses the whole complex lower.
Demand is steady, which cuts both ways. Onions are a kitchen staple with little demand response: demand will not surge to absorb a big crop, so oversupply has nowhere to go but price. The same steadiness that makes shortages sharp makes gluts long.
A falling stretch usually starts with a big, sound crop meeting steady demand, with origin overlap and imports deciding how far it carries. The rising twin of this page covers the same factors running the other way.