Walnuts: export slump is over
November 27, 2025 at 4:45 PM ,
Der AUDITOR
Crop better than expected?
California walnut farmers completed their harvest in early November, just in time before heavy rainfall hit the growing regions. The 2025 crop was originally estimated at 644,101 mt, which would have been an increase of 17.7% or just under 100,000 mt compared to last year. However, Bill Carriere of Carriere Family Farms believes that this year's crop could reach a volume of 680,000 mt. Although yields varied from region to region, they mainly ranged from average to very good, according to Carriere. He also said that they were very satisfied with the quality. Inshell walnuts are currently trading at USD 1.00-1.10/lb on the US market, and buyers are even willing to pay up to USD 1.15/lb for correspondingly good quality. Producers are currently charging around USD 3.00/lb for walnut kernels.
US exports catching up again
In California, around 628,055 mt of inshell walnuts from the new crop had been registered by 31 October 2025, of which 614,239 mt were from conventional cultivation and 13,816 mt from organic cultivation.
Due to the lower production results in 2024/2025, the new season started without any significant carry-over stocks. After a sluggish start to the season in September, October shipments were significantly better. A total of 44,166 mt of US walnuts, shelled and inshell, were delivered from the US to domestic and overseas markets last month, representing an increase of 15% over the same month last year. At 9,981 mt (-10% compared to last year), almost a quarter of shipments went to the domestic market. Other important sales markets were Italy (-3% to 7,727 mt), Turkey (+225% to 6,037 mt) and India (-17% to 3,773 mt). Exports to Germany, however, increased by 61% to 1,939 mt.
In total, US walnut exports since the start of the season amount to 38,440 mt (+15% compared to the previous year). Domestic deliveries, however, fell by 10.9% to 16,584 mt. A total of 55,025 mt of shelled and inshell walnuts have been delivered domestically and overseas to date, an increase of 5.6% over the same period last year. Of this, 830 mt are organic walnuts.
|
US walnut shipments, in mt |
|||
|
Destination |
2024 |
2025 |
Diff. |
|
USA |
18,610 |
16,584 |
-10.90% |
|
Italy |
9,029 |
9,121 |
1.00% |
|
Turkey |
2,039 |
6,318 |
209.90% |
|
India |
4,572 |
3,773 |
-17.50% |
|
Spain |
3,704 |
3,500 |
-5.50% |
|
Germany |
1,801 |
1,958 |
8.80% |
|
Japan |
1,819 |
1,483 |
-18.50% |
|
Canada |
1,405 |
1,467 |
4.40% |
|
Korea |
2,120 |
1,381 |
-34.90% |
|
UK |
1,119 |
1,297 |
15.90% |
|
Others |
5,866 |
8,144 |
38.80% |
|
Total |
52,083 |
55,025 |
5.60% |
|
California Walnuts; 01/09-31/10 Shelled and inshell |
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