Egyptian onions compete on a calendar, not on price alone. Between roughly March and July, Egypt is the largest fresh-crop origin loading into the Gulf, South Asia and Eastern Europe, while Dutch and Spanish stock is either finished or ageing. Outside that window, other origins are usually the better buy. This page sets the five main origins side by side so a buyer can decide when Egypt belongs in the programme and when it does not.

When Does Each Onion Origin Actually Supply?

The supply windows below are the practical loading months, not the harvest dates. Storage extends every origin past its harvest, but quality and firmness fall the further a lot sits in store.

What Does Egypt Do Better Than the Alternatives?

Egypt fills the spring and early summer hole. From March onward the Dutch and Spanish crops are storage stock several months old, and the Indian rabi crop is only starting to move. An Egyptian golden onion loaded in April is fresh-crop fruit with tight skin and low sprouting risk, which matters on a 20 to 30 day transit to Southeast Asia or a 5 to 10 day run to Jeddah or Jebel Ali.

Freight geography is the second advantage. From Alexandria, Damietta or Port Said, transit to the Gulf, the Black Sea and the Indian subcontinent is short, and Suez transit is not a detour but the route. For buyers in Kazakhstan, Georgia and the Levant, Egypt is usually the closest fresh-crop origin in the second quarter.

Where Do the Other Origins Win?

Netherlands wins on storage discipline. Dutch onions are dried and stored under controlled conditions and hold firmness through a long winter programme, which is why West African buyers take Dutch stock from October to March.

India wins on landed cost into South Asia and the lower Gulf, provided export policy is open. Indian export rules on onion have changed repeatedly in recent seasons, so a buyer building a firm programme should treat Indian supply as available rather than guaranteed and keep a second origin approved.

Spain wins on retail presentation into the EU and UK, where inside-EU status removes plant health entry formalities and shortens the road leg.

China wins on volume into Southeast and Central Asia across a long window, though buyers with retail specifications often find sizing and skin colour less consistent than European stock.

What Should You Fix in the Specification?

Whichever origin you buy, the contract should name variety type, calibre range, bag format, bag weight tolerance, maximum permitted sprouting and rot at arrival, and the moisture and curing condition at loading. On Egyptian golden onion the usual export calibres are 40 to 60 mm, 50 to 70 mm and 60 to 80 mm, packed in 5, 10, 20 or 25 kg mesh and palletised to 1000 by 1200 mm pallets. Full specification, bag formats and container quantities are set out in our Egyptian onion and garlic export specification for 2026/2027, and the month-by-month picture across all crops is in the Egyptian produce export calendar.

PEI Trade is an Egyptian exporter, so treat this comparison as an informed view from one origin rather than a neutral audit. We would rather a buyer takes Dutch stock in January and Egyptian stock in April than takes the wrong origin in either month.

Contact

For onion calibres, bag formats and loading availability for the 2026/2027 season, message our export desk on WhatsApp at +20 10 9911 1918. Send destination port, calibre, bag format and target quantity and you will have a quotation the same working day.