U.S. nut, date and dried fruit producers battle challenges beyond the farm

It’s been a stressful 2021 so far for many nut and dried fruit growers and marketers, and it doesn’t look like the challenges will ease up before the year’s end, said Mike Poindexter, CEO of the Poindexter Nut Co., Selma, Calif.

The good news: “Crop quality is fantastic. The color is great,” he said of the walnut crop he’s seeing among his almost 300 growers in California.

“But we’re seeing large reductions in early orchards. We will definitely have a smaller crop.”

That matches the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s predicted estimated 15% drop in California walnut volume for the 2021 season.

“Widespread freezing temperatures in late fall of 2020 resulted in frost damage to walnut orchards across the state,” according to the USDA’s Sept. 1 report.

“Additionally, because of the state’s drought conditions, orchards experienced a higher degree of freeze injury. Walnut growers throughout the state struggled with drought conditions and water availability, as most of the state is in a drought emergency. Chilling hours were up from last year.”

The state’s San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys produce 99% of the country’s walnut crop, according to University of California-Davis.

Almonds and walnuts are the largest tree nut crops, accounting for 31% and 19% of the global share, respectively, followed by pistachios at 19%, cashews at 16%, and hazelnuts (10%), according to the Nuts and Dried Fruits Statistical Yearbook for 2020-21 created by the International Nut and Dried Fruit Council Foundation. Pecans, macadamia nuts, pine nuts, and Brazil nuts accounted for the remaining 5%.

Dried grapes, such as raisins and sultanas, and currants remained the most-produced dried fruit by volume, accounting for 1.2 million metric tons, or 42% of the global total, according to the foundation’s report. Table dates accounted for the next 35% of total production, with more than 1 million metric tons, and also saw the most important growth pattern in the past 10 years, with an average annual rise of 51,723 metric tons from 2010-11 to 2020-21.

The remaining 23% was divided among sweetened dried cranberries at 7%, dried apricots at 6%, prunes at 5% and dried figs at 5%. Sweetened dried cranberries increased production significantly between 2012-13 and 2020-21, about 10,862 metric tons per year on average.

As far as California walnuts, prices are higher this year than last, but “good luck getting containers to export your walnuts,” Poindexter said.

“Ocean cargo containers, that’s a huge problem to get right now, and it’s going to continue to go on because the ports are getting backed up. What does price matter if the customer can’t get the product?”

Poindexter Nut Co. sells domestically and exports to 56 countries.

The U.S. leads the world in tree-nut production, growing 1.8 million metric tons, or an average share of 40% of global production between 2016-17 and 2020-21. The most produced crops in the U.S. were almonds, with 59% of country production, pistachios at 21% and walnuts at 15%. Turkey came in second with 11% of the global share, with hazelnuts and pistachios accounting for 64% and 31% of the country’s production, respectively.

Walnuts

China is the largest walnut-producing country, accounting for 47% of the world’s share in 2020/2021, with a crop rise of 10% from the previous year. The U.S. came in second with a record crop, accounting for 31% of global production, and Chile falls third, with 7% of the world’s production.

U.S. walnut producers, and possibly other nut ranchers, weren’t affected by the plummeting foodservice sales in 2020 and 2021 in the same way as other produce because so much goes to retail and exports, Poindexter said.

Yet, the sector is facing the challenges of labor, pallet, trucking and other logistical and supply shortages like everyone else.

There was such a shortage of outbound walnut quality inspectors, plus shipping constraints that the California Walnut Board voted to suspend enforcement of mandatory U.S. Department of Agriculture outbound inspections of California walnuts.

The USDA approved suspension of the enforcement of inspections in the federal marketing order for six months, starting Sept. 1. The board’s vote to suspend inspections stands to benefit the industry by mitigating market disruptions during the season.

“They suspended the enforcement of that, otherwise it would be devastating to us,” Poindexter said. “If you keep waiting, you miss the sale. You don’t make up for it later.”

In 2019, overall shelled walnut shipments totaled a decade record, and the U.S. was the leading exporter, responsible for 42% of global exports. The European Union — mostly Germany — and the United Kingdom were the U.S. top markets, followed by Japan at 14%, South Korea at 10% and the Middle East at 12%.

Almonds

The U.S. is the world’s leading almond supplier, and in 2020-21 accounted for 79% of the world crop, according to the international foundation report. Australia and Spain came in second with 7% of the market share, respectively.

The same goes for almond exports. The U.S. dominates in exporting too, doing 65% of the world’s almond exports.

Also, the U.S. consumes the most almonds of any other country: 355,3090 metric tons in 2019, compared to India’s 114,832, Spain’s 96,260 and Germany’s 75,192 metric tons.

Dried grapes

The dried grapes category includes raisins and sultanas, as well as currants.

Turkish production accounted for 22% of the global share, followed by the U.S., Iran,

and India, with shares ranging from 16% to 12%, according to the foundation report.

Also, Turkey remained the leading exporting country, accounting for 31% of global exports, followed by Iran, the U.S. and Uzbekistan, each with 9%.

The U.S. ranks first in the world for grape consumption, however, at 181,210 metric tons in 2019, followed by the 146,520 tons India ate, the 140,702 tons China ate, and finally, the 88,758 tons the United Kingdom ate.

Dates

The U.S. does not dominate the date world.

Global table date production reached more than 1 million metric tons in the 2020-21 season, a 10% decrease from the previous season, according to the report. Saudi Arabia was the leading table date producer, doing 21% of global production both in 2020-21 and on average over the past five years. Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria and Iraq were the other highest producing countries over the same time periods.

Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are the top consumers of table dates, and the U.S. falls ninth in that list.

“It’s been a very interesting year, this year. There are challenges. There are opportunities. We don’t have everything laid out for us. We may have some more challenges going forward, and hopefully we’ll meet them,” Poindexter said.