almond market

Record Shipments in Almond Market

Mintec Global
Spread the news!

The California Almond Board has released the Position report for almond market with February shipments of +245.7 million pounds of almonds compared to last year’s mere 199.1 million pounds for an increase of +23.4 percent. The 245.7 million pounds is a new record for February shipments! The industry had been expecting a strong month, but this number surpassed expectations! Leading the charge with substantial increases in their shipments this year versus last year were India, China, U.A.E., and Turkey. Even the Domestic did their part and were up this month as well.

Current shipments

Million LBSPercent
Domestic57.46+7.6%
Export188.28+29.2%
COUNTRY2023 Million LBS2022 Million LBS
India34.220.2
China21.84.0
Spain17.520.9
Germany9.010.9
U.A.E.14.56.3
Turkey8.82.9

YEAR TO DATE SHIPMENTS

+1.571 billion pounds compared to 1.438 billion pounds last year for an increase of +5.51 percent.

CROP RECEIPTS

Now at +2.522 billion pounds compared to last year’s 2.892 billion pounds for a decrease of 12.76 percent. The Objective Crop Estimate was at 2.6 billion pounds so we are very near to what the expectations were.

MARKET

Almond prices shot up during the Almond Bloom! As an industry, we were coming off an impressive January shipment month combined with record sales giving packers and growers confidence to increase prices and then the averse weather impacted the bloom and all prices have risen another 10-20 cents per pound depending on the item.

NP Extra #1 27/30 has risen by 35 cents per pound and NP Extra #1 20/22 increased by 30 cents per pound, NP Inshell is up 25-30 cents per lbs, and Stds 5 are up over 20 cents per pounds in the past six weeks. Many packers withdrew from selling during this turbulent weather period, and most packers are fully sold for March into the beginning of April as well, so they can be patient and see what the impact is from the poor weather on the bloom.

New Sales in February were 190,267,497 pounds. The Industry is now sold at 68.0 percent for the carry-in and crop combined, almost identical to last year’s 68.5 percent sold at this time. With this record shipment report, we will continue to decrease the potential carry-out at the end of the season and see the current pricing move up another 5 cents per pound minimum. Both China, India, and the majority of the Middle East have surpassed last year’s shipments year to date at this time.

BLOOM

The weather has not been kind to us during the bloom this year. It has been an elongated bloom due to the below normal cold temperatures, excessive rains, frosts, hail, and in some areas Snow on the bloom! The Bloom started the first week under decent conditions for most of the state followed by ten days of abysmal weather, followed by a couple of decent days, and then rain and wind hits again.

Some bee keepers found good pollen in the hives while other bee keepers were forced to feed their bees due to the bad weather.

We know we will not reach the full potential of the upcoming crop! We will have a better idea on the total size of the new crop in the next two months. Initial predictions from various experts are for a crop in the range of 2.4-2.6 billion pounds for 2023, nowhere near the 3.0 billion that most thought would occur prior to the bloom.

WEATHER OUTLOOK

Atmospheric River to hit California Thursday-Friday. The Sacramento Valley area is expecting 2-3 inches of rain. The foothills and lower mountains to the east of Sacramento are expecting 5-7 inches of rain, which much of it will land on the snow resulting in it melting! Unfortunately, it may be a warmer rain storm which may rain on the snow thus resulting in substantial floods. Rain is forecasted for the next 7 days.

Read the article.

OUTLOOK MARCH

Expectations are for a very strong month of shipments in March compared to last year. However new sales in March will be low with many packers and growers withdrawn from selling due to the bloom conditions which will impact shipments in April and May.

Import/Export Statistics

Please click to reach our marketplace