Walnuts: small dent in global production
June 5, 2023 at 11:40 AM ,
Der AUDITOR
Invincible China
Global walnut production is project to decline by 2% to 2.59 million mt in 2023/2023 as compared with 2022/2023 and total supplies by 0.9% to 2.81 million mt. Contrary to this, end-of season stocks should range 16% higher at 216,900 mt. While China’s production will maintain a record high of 1.40 million mt, US production will decline by 3% to 658,000 mt with reports stating that climate change is an issue here. China will also start the new season with a carry-in stock of 120,000 mt meaning that total supplies will range at 1.52 million mt. The country is keen to increase exports and certainly is a fierce competitor on the market.
Harvesting has been completed in Chile, but projection is that the 2023/24 production will range 10% lower at 168,100 mt. This falls short of initial expectations of a bumper crop of 190,000 mt or more. Chile exported a total of 180,450 mt of walnuts in 2022/23 as ChileNut reports. This is 22% up on the 148,151 mt shipped overseas in 2021/22. The season ended on 20 March 2023 with the main export destinations comprising Turkey (33,505 mt), India (26,928 mt) and Italy (14,845 mt).
While Chile can compete in the international market due to its high-quality nuts, this cannot be said for Ukraine. Naturally, Russia’s full-scale invasion has caused a setback, but it should also be noted that the country has lost market shares to China in recent years. China, for instance, increased shipments to the EU by 26% to 8,075 mt in 2022, whereas shipments from Ukraine declined by 21% to 14,267 mt.
|
Global walnut production (in mt) |
|||
|
Country |
2022/23 |
2023/24 |
Diff. |
|
China |
1,400,000 |
1,400,000 |
0% |
|
USA |
678,500 |
658,000 |
-3.1% |
|
Chile |
187,424 |
168,100 |
-10.3% |
|
Ukraine |
70,000 |
70,000 |
0% |
|
Turkey |
48,000 |
55,000 |
14.6% |
|
France |
37,000 |
38,000 |
2.7% |
|
Iran |
46,500 |
40,000 |
-14.0% |
|
Romania |
30,000 |
32,000 |
6.7% |
|
India |
31,000 |
28,000 |
-9.7% |
|
Argentina |
25,000 |
20,000 |
-20.0% |
|
Moldova |
17,800 |
19,000 |
6.7% |
|
Italy |
19,500 |
18,000 |
-7.7% |
|
Hungary |
13,500 |
14,000 |
3.7% |
|
Georgia |
8,200 |
8,000 |
-2.4% |
|
Australia |
13,500 |
7,000 |
-48.2% |
|
Others |
16,500 |
15,000 |
-9.1% |
|
Total |
2,642,424 |
2,590,100 |
-2.0% |
|
INC May 2023, in-shell basis |
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