Onions
~$24.88–$29.25/sack · as of 2026-07-16 Hold
Onions trades on a wholesale reference price that moves week to week; right now it's reading up across public sources (as of 2026-07-16). To see the live number, the typical range, and where your own price sits, open the reading below — then check your last invoice against it.
What is the cheapest month to buy onions?
The cheapest month for onions is usually December, and the priciest is August — a clear seasonal window: about 44% cheaper at its December low than at its August peak, across the multi-year public history (USDA, BLS, FRED). That is calendar co-occurrence, not a forecast; read it against your own invoice.
Why it matters
Onions trades per sack as a wholesale reference. That is the market's figure, not the delivered price at your door — your invoice adds freight, the vendor's margin, and your volume. Always compare in the same unit.
The price moves with forces upstream of your kitchen — chiefly diesel. That is an association, not a direct cause, but when those climb, onions tends to follow. So a higher invoice is not always the vendor's doing: sometimes the whole market moved.
For category context: fresh fruits & vegetables as a whole moved -49.4% over the window (BLS PPI, fresh fruits & vegetables). That's the broad produce market's direction — not onions's own read, which is above.
Notable price events
Across the ~25.2 years of public data we track, the wholesale reference for onions moved farthest from its normal range on these dates. Each figure is the peak versus its own ~1-year local median — a market move, not a vendor markup.
What this means for your kitchen
Onions: a highly volatile line. Don't anchor it to a printed menu price you can't revisit for months: keep headroom, and when the reading runs hot, feature it less or trim the portion before you eat the margin. Its big moves have typically held ~4 months before easing — plan for that, not for a bounce next week.
And the read that matters most: when a spike here lines up with a documented market event (below), a high invoice is the market — hold your price or re-engineer the plate, don't burn the vendor relationship. When the reference is calm but your price isn't, that's the conversation worth having.
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Apr 2007 ▲ 56% above normal
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May 2001 ▼ 42% below normal
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Aug 2025 ▲ 41% above normal
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Oct 2012 ▼ 37% below normal
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Aug 2013 ▲ 34% above normal
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Sep 2008 ▲ 33% above normal
Other documented events for onions
Documented around this time Thomson International onion recall - Salmonella Newport (2020)
What happened · sources
CDC and FDA investigated a multistate Salmonella Newport outbreak (1,127 reported illnesses across 48 states, 167 hospitalizations, no deaths, with illness onsets from June 19 to Sept 11, 2020) linked to onions supplied by Thomson International, Inc. of Bakersfield, California. On Aug 1, 2020 Thomson recalled red, yellow, white and sweet yellow onions shipped from May 1, 2020 onward, distributed nationwide to wholesalers, restaurants and retailers, removing the affected product from the market. Red onions were identified as the likely source.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration · U.S. Food and Drug Administration · U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Price moves are detected from public history (USDA/BLS/FRED). Documented events come from our open, cited registry — shown as co-occurring context, never asserted as the cause. How events are picked.
How to use this reading
- Open the reading above and note the typical range and the date.
- Pull your last onions invoice, in the same unit.
- Below the range is a good deal; inside is normal; well above is a vendor conversation.
- Watch the direction over a few weeks before re-pricing a dish — one week is noise.
Costing a dish that uses onions? Use the Plate Cost Calculator.
Frequently asked
What does onions cost wholesale right now?
It moves week to week. The market read above shows the current typical range and the date behind it; read it against your own invoice.
What is the best time of year to buy onions?
The cheapest stretch for onions is usually around December, and the priciest around August, based on its multi-year public price history. That is a calendar pattern, not a forecast; read it against your invoice.
Why did my onions price jump?
It can be the whole market or a single vendor. The range tells you which: if your price lands inside the range, the market moved; well above the range is a vendor conversation. It tends to move with diesel — association, not direct cause.
What unit is onions priced in?
It trades per sack as a wholesale reference — not the delivered price you pay, so compare against your invoice in the same unit.
Am I overpaying for onions?
Place your own price on the typical range above. Below the range is a good deal; inside is normal; above the range is worth a vendor conversation.
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This is the market reference. To see whether your invoices track it, line by line, that's Muntin Ledger — your data, no language model.
Sourced: USDA Agricultural Marketing Service — public data, via the live tool · what a cost index is