Macadamia fever takes over world as Australia’s global market share slips

As the 2021 Australian macadamia season nears its end, the industry is optimistic it will deliver close to 54,000 tonnes of nut-in-shell.

While growers continue to plant more orchards in New South Wales and Queensland to meet increased global demand and exports have lifted this year, other macadamia producing countries are growing faster.

Australian Macadamia Society CEO Jolyon Burnett said Australia’s largest growing region helped the annual crop bounce back this year.

“Some areas in the Northern Rivers were a little bit down on the previous year, south-east Queensland was pretty steady, a little bit up on last year, but Bundaberg is where the growth is at the moment,” he said.

“Those new plantings are now getting into their five to 10-year age and really beginning to contribute, and I think that helped lift the crop from what otherwise might have been a bit ordinary.”

While the strong demand saw a lift in exports from 75 to 80 per cent this year, Australia’s piece of its native nut pie is declining.

“Australia’s share of the total global supply is slipping,” Mr Burnett said.

“Other countries — particularly the African continent, China, Vietnam and South America — are all planting and their combined growth is faster than ours.

“So we are slipping as a percentage of total supply, but I think we remain the macadamia of first preference purchased in most markets.”

Record year for global leader

It’s been a record year for the world’s largest macadamia company, Marquis Group, which operates in South Africa and Australia, with nut-in-shell received from growers and kernel sales up 20 per cent on last year.

Marquis Marketing general manager Charles Cormack declined to divulge the figure but confirmed it was in excess of 10,000 tonnes of kernels.

“This year we were kind of prepared and I guess hoping for the best and preparing for the worst, and the business has really come back strongly and so we’re very happy with our results this year.”

While the demand for the whole kernels remained strong throughout the pandemic, demand for smaller styles had picked up this year.

“During the pandemic, many cafes, restaurants, and so on had closed down food service, so that’s coming alive and that’s driving the consumption of cookies and other bakery goods,” Mr Cormack said.

Marquis exports to some 45 countries around the world and while markets like China and the US remained strong, Mr Cormack said that its growth was in Korea where sales had doubled in the past year.