Almonds September Position Report released...

The Almond Board of California has released the September Position report with shipments of  142.9 million pounds compared to last year 163 million pounds for a decrease  of 12.3% percent which was expected.

YEAR TO DATE SHIPMENTS:    269.1 million pounds compared to last year 304.7 million pounds for a decrease of   11.67% percent.

SHIPMENTS BY REGION:

-         USA                                        +4%

-         India                                       +7%

-         China                                     -35%

-         Germany                              -16%

-         Spain                                      +8%

-         Italy                                        +37%

-         Western Europe                 -7%

-         United Arab Emirates        -64%

COMMITTEMENTS/SALES:  During the month of September the commitments reached 440 million pounds which is an increase of 13.8% over last year.  Sales during the month of September reached 74 million pounds.

CROP RECEIPTS:  922 million pounds compared to   939 million pounds last year for a difference of  -1.86 percent.  It appears the Nonpareil crop will be the smallest crop since 2007.

CURRENCY: The 1 Euro is now equaling 1.126 to the dollar.

HARVEST: The harvest has been fast this year with many varieties all coming in quickly.  The Northern part of California had a better crop in tonnage this year compared to last year while the southern part of the valley had a smaller crop in quantity compared to last year.  Industry experts are calling for a crop of 1.70 to 1.80 billion pounds, while last year’s crop was 1.88 billion pounds.

PRICES: During the past two months prices came down and now during the past 3 weeks we have seen them rise up approximately 25 cents per pound.

OCTOBER SHIPMENTS: The October shipments look to be stronger than once thought. Strong demand during the recent weeks has filled up most of the production capacity for most packers.