The Almond Board of California has released the position report with November shipments of 238 million pounds compared to last year’s 204 million pounds for an increase of +16.6 percent for the almond market. The 238.28 million pounds shipped in November 2023, makes it the second-strongest shipment month for November, Summit Almonds reports.
November Shipments
| Million Pounds | Percent | |
| Domestic | 60.37 | -2.0% |
| Export | 177.91 | +24.7% |
| Countries | Percent | 2023 November Million LBS | 2022 November Million LBS |
| India | +31% | 38.0 | 33.3 |
| Spain | -3% | 16.8 | 13.6 |
| China | -4% | 18.9 | 9.0 |
| Netherland | +41% | 8.2 | 6.8 |
| UAE | +11% | 17.2 | 14.7 |
| Türkiye | +32% | 7.8 | 5.0 |
| GERMANY | +3% | 5.9 | 6.9 |
| ITALY | +32% | 7.2 | 4.2 |
Year-to-date shipments are now at +915 million pounds compared to 835 million pounds last year, an increase of +9.55 percent.
Crop receipts
Receipts are at 1.867 billion pounds compared to 2.107 billion pounds for a decrease of -13.16 percent. Based on this data, we will not reach the Objective crop estimate of 2.6 billion. Most industry experts now feel the crop will only be 2.30 – 2.35 billion pounds.
The majority of hullers will finish their work in the coming weeks. Even with the smaller crop, they have continued to run at a slower pace due to the level of serious damage and green hulls.
Market overview
Sales during November were robust with new sales of 208 million pounds, compared to last year at 200 million pounds. December sales have started off on a strong note as well for the first ten days of the month. The Industry is now sold at +46.7 percent for the new crop and carry in while last year we were at 45.1 percent.
Prices over the past four weeks have risen approximately 10 cents per pound for NPX, Carmel Sup, and Cal SSR. There are extremely limited small-size kernels, straight-count small kernels are almost impossible to locate, and their prices have jumped up. Most remaining inventory are very large sizes for NPX, Ind X and Carmel Sup in the sizes of 23/25, 20/22, and 18/20.
With the quality this year, we are seeing higher levels of serious damage in the almond kernels. The higher levels of serious damage will limit the availability of Extra #1 and K Spec loads as the season progresses, placing them at a premium price in the almond market.
Weather
Our rain totals for the season in the Sacramento area are now at 1.65 inches for the season. A normal season is over 3.66 inches and last year’s wet year was already over 5.83 inches. We are behind over 2 inches of rain for normal averages.
Currency
The dollar has weakened in recent weeks assisting to stimulate new sales.
| 1 Euro | 1.08 Dollars |
| 1 Dollar | 83.43 Indian Rupee |
| 1 Dollar | 7.14 Chinese Yuan |
| 1 Dollar | 28.95 Turkish Lira |
Trees look healthy in the orchards. They had excellent new growth this year. Most trees have added 12 inches to 24 inches of new growth. We are now having light freezes most nights allowing for good chill hours for the trees.
Based on the strong sales in both October and November we expect December to be another very strong month for shipments.