Since the beginning of the season, volumes to the UK are significantly down year-on-year, while exports to Spain and Portugal have increased.

The UK market remains the second northern European market for France, after Belgium, but the demand appears to be lessening.

Gérard Rocci, md of Ardennes-based France Allium, highlights three major reasons for the downturn: 'Firstly, English producers and retailers are working hand in hand,' he said. 'Multiples are keen to put the UK's national production at the front of the queue. We would like it to have the same here.

'Secondly, the UK takes a lot of southern hemisphere onions. From March, produce from New Zealand and Tasmania takes the market by storm.

'And finally, we face stiff competition from the Dutch, for whom distribution costs are far lower than ours. If our product is top-of-the-range, we may have the opportunity to compete in the UK, but not if our quality is similar to our competitors.' Hugues Pouzin, director of Fedepom, the French potato, onion and garlic traders' association, adds a fourth reason: 'I have a feeling that imports into the UK are lowering since the birth of the euro zone,' he says. 'But on the other hand, British soil is very similar to ours and their industry is extremely proactive.'

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