Both the macadamia and pecan nut industries are expecting favourable conditions in 2022 as markets rebound and harvests play into favourable supply and demand curves. While growth in the macadamia nut crop was slowing down, the lower supply meant more favourable pricing. It was predicted that the crop would not reach 60 000t this year due to adverse weather conditions during flowering. The 2021 crop ended on 54 174t nut-in-shell (NIS).
As the nuts were still small at the time of going to print, industry role players were reluctant to provide specific figures; however, considering the poor weather experienced in September 2021, they anticipated an increase in volumes of less than 10%.
According to Alex Whyte, sales and marketing manager for Europe, Africa and the Middle East at Green & Gold Macadamias, the COVID-19 vaccination roll-out had brought confidence to the market, resulting in stable prices with only slight increases. “At this stage, most processors are well sold, so there’s little carry-over stock going into the new season,” he added.
Roelof van Rooyen, director of Marquis Macadamias, said that lower volumes on the market had resulted in supply and demand favouring growers.
“We expect that when prices are released in early March, they’ll be positive. However, we’re facing the pressure of smaller kernel styles, since the nature of how they are used (for baking and confectionery) necessitates product development. It’s therefore a priority for us to create more effective products and markets to absorb the smaller styles.”
Adding to this, Whyte expressed concern over the future of the NIS market for South Africa, specifically in terms of the overstocked Beaumont variety.
“Last year, we saw for the first time how the Chinese crop influenced global sales: when their crop came in, NIS sales dropped. As their crop grows, it’ll [be] more of a factor in our ability to sell NIS onto that market. [In future], they’ll only be interested in higher grades.”
Meanwhile, the pecan nut industry was looking forward to a larger crop, which would give them more negotiating power in the market.
Andreas Snyman, executive manager of GWK International, said smaller pecan nut harvests from Mexico and the US meant that smaller volumes would be shipped to China, creating more room for South African nuts.
“We expect to see higher prices in China and Europe. Our bigger crop also means we’ll be better able to differentiate the quality grades, which will result in better prices.”
Source: Scribd