Almonds: global crop up by 16%

November 6, 2024 at 3:49 PM , Der AUDITOR
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MADRID/SACRAMENTO. While global almond production cannot quite fulfil the expectations expressed in the spring, the yield outlook for the 2024/2025 season remains positive.

Expectations cannot be met

The initial forecasts for global almond production in 2024/2025, published during the INC Congress last May, predicted a year-on-year increase in production of almost 22%. This was due to significantly better yield prospects in the main growing countries of the USA, Australia and Spain. A few adjustments have now been made in the latest October report from the International Nut and Dried Fruit Council. The crop in the main growing countries did not quite fulfil expectations, but are still expected to be far more productive than last year. Overall, the preliminary forecasts are 1.692 million mt, an increase of 16.1% compared to last year.

The US almond crop is expected to increase by 14.6% year-on-year to 1.246 million mt, however, US almond exports in the 2023/2024 season reached their second highest result ever at 1.22 million mt. As the 2023 crop was only 1.087 million mt, suppliers drew on stocks, which meant that carry-over stocks at the start of the new season were 37% lower than last year. Australia's crop of 153,550 mt this spring was almost half as large as in 2023, and experts forecast possible losses for the coming crop in early 2025 due to late September frosts in the main growing regions, although the exact extent of the damage is not yet known. In Spain's growing regions, a whole range of unfavourable weather conditions led to yield corrections: the high rainfall rate in spring and drought in the south-east of the country, as well as the damage caused by the extreme temperatures of the last two years. However, the crop could score with good quality and larger almond kernels than in the previous year. According to the INC report, production is expected to grow by 8.1% to 122,300 mt of shelled almonds, while the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is forecasting 378,558 mt of in-shell almonds, an increase of 17% according to its data.

Higher crops are also expected in smaller growing countries such as Turkey (+20% to 30,000 mt), China (+66.7% to 25,000 mt) and Portugal (+19.9% to 25,000 mt), while production in Italy (-3.7% to 21,000 mt) and Morocco (-2.7% to 18,000 mt) is expected to decline.

Global almond production, in mt

Country

2023/24

2024/25

Diff.

USA

1,086,880

1,245,750

14.6%

Australia

103,381

153,550

48.5%

Spain

113,150

122,300

8.1%

Turkey

25,000

30,000

20.0%

China

15,000

25,000

66.7%

Portugal

20,850

25,000

19.9%

Italy

21,800

21,000

-3.7%

Morocco

18,500

18,000

-2.7%

Tunesia

12,000

12,000

0.0%

Chile

12,436

9,583

-22.9%

Others

28,500

29,730

4.3%

Total

1,457,497

1,691,913

16.1%

INC, October 2024

New almond variety to facilitate cultivation

In California, the company Ohalo Genetics has presented its first self-fertilising nonpareil almond variety under the name FruitionOne. Nonpareil almonds are in particularly high demand. When grown without additional pollinator trees in the plantations, harvesting processes can be optimised, while yields can be more reliable, as it can happen that the two tree varieties flower at different times or unpredictable weather developments affect pollination.

Ohalo has now successfully passed the USDA Regulatory Status Review process. The first orders for FruitionOne should be possible at the end of 2026, with deliveries starting in 2027. Meanwhile, the first test plantation of FruitionOne trees is already being planted in California.

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