Californian Walnuts... The January 2019 shipments versus the January 2018 shipments on an inshell equivalent were up 28%

WALNUT MARKET AND CROP UPDATE- January 2019

Domestic – January 2019 shipments versus 2018 shipments  on an inshell equivalent were up 26%

Export – January 2019 shipments versus 2018 shipments on an inshell equivalent were up 28.5% .

Key Market Shipments:  January 2019 versus January 2018

Inshell UAE: 13.75 Million vs 2.59 Million for an increase of +429%!!!

Inshell Pakistan: 1.99 Million vs 0 lbs

Shelled Germany:  5.24 Million vs 6.09 Million for a decrease of 14%

Inshell Turkey: 15.21 Million vs 7.1 Million for increase of +114%

Crop Size: Crop size, and Final size, is 672,723 tons. 

Market: Shipments were going to be strong by the lack of availability for January shipments in December but this exceeded many expectations. Middle East had massive shipments with strong Ramadan purchasing. Dubai shipped almost 14 million lbs in January!! Incredible. Reports from Dubai are that sales continue to be strong, they still want more for First half March but inventory in CA is extremely low. We do not expect February to be much different as packers have had full February packing schedules since early January.

Prices: When prices in October/Early November reached their lows, global consumption  picked up and prices have increased ever since. Inventory on all varieties of inshell and Chandler kernels are low, pricing reflects the low inventory. Jumbo Large Chandler remains around 1.18 FAS, however Chile has started to sell inshell for End of March forward shipments and most middle east customers have switched to focusing on Chilean. Chandler kernels have seen a sharp increase in past 2 weeks, packers who do have inventory are taking advantage and offering at 3.20-3.25 FAS.

Chilean: Middle East and Turkey have shown strong demand, especially for End of March or beginning April shipments.