IN YOUR ORCHARD
THE ALMOND BOARD
Another Challenging Year but Hope Lies Ahead
California almond growers have experienced yet another taxing and financially draining season over the past 12 months. Before growers could recover from the aftershock of last year’s hardships, a wave of new difficulties overcame the industry. However, this year’s 51 st Annual Almond Conference lifted spirits for some as it provided an opportunity for camaraderie, collaboration on resources, and insight into the factors that the industry can control. “For the short-term outlook, things will remain difficult and tough decisions will have to be made,” said Alexi Rodriguez, chair of the Board of Directors at the State of the Industry Presentation. “But... we do believe there’s good reason to remain optimistic about the future of almonds and their profitability.” Production and Consumption Stay Favorable “A lot has changed in terms of growth, production and additional plantings, and it’s important to assess how almonds measure up against other tree nuts,” said Richard Waycott, former Almond Board of California (ABC) president and CEO.
Today, 3.5 billion pounds of almonds are being produced globally — approximately 1 billion more than 10 years ago. Production remains high in California, making up about 75% of global production, but this number has been higher in the past, which suggests increased competition from producers in Spain and Australia. Almonds aren’t the only nut that has seen this amount of scale. Collectively, tree nuts have increased total trade net supply in the world by 64% in the last decade. Positively, almonds are still the favorite nut and hold a hefty consumption lead over their nearest competitor, cashews, but there is still ample room for increased consumption globally, Waycott noted. Acreage Drops “On the other hand, for the second year in a row, the industry is witnessing a decrease in total almond acreage from the year previous,¹” said Bryce Spycher, ABC senior manager of Marketing Order Services. Nonbearing acres are down by nearly 100,000 acres — almost half of where the industry was in 2021, and the number of orchards removed continues to rise.
Additionally, one of the lasting effects of the 2022 season was 438 million pounds of excess inventory, accounting for two months of the industry’s shipments. ABC has been vigilant in discovering new export markets to offload these nuts, particularly in their target regions of Asia-Pacific, Western Europe and the Middle East/Africa. Trade Environment Following last year’s difficulties, trade has been a troubling concern for the industry. U.S. Ambassador Doug McKalip, chief agricultural negotiator at the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR)² addressed some of these concerns with the audience, stating there have been “boots on the ground” to make progress in this area. Top of mind for many growers are the trade restrictions with China, India and Turkey due to retaliatory tariffs. While the United States faced obstacles with these countries, our competitors simultaneously negotiated solid trade relationships with them, which undoubtedly hindered California almond shipments.
¹ https://www.almonds.com/about-us/press-room/california-almond-acreage-drops-again-2023 ² https://ustr.gov/ ³ https://www.almonds.com/almond-industry/industry-news/almond-byte-september-2023-india-tariffs-eu-challenges-port-worker
32
ALMOND FACTS
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker