Walnut Market Update March 2022 Week 9

California has been experiencing supply chain and delivery problems for the last two weeks. This issue is going to continue, which buyers need to keep in mind. Though, there has been a noticeable increase in demand for in-shell. 

This is because buyers have accepted that the shipping cost for Chilean walnuts from Chile to America through California is a viable option. This increase in demand has propelled Californian walnut prices. This trend is expected to continue as long as the Chilean exporters maintain the current supply level. 

Since Chile has now become interested in the American market, it is encouraging to see that the Chilean walnut production is 20% higher than the previous year. 

In terms of the market, the numbers are not encouraging. The industry has seen a decrease of almost 17% in the season to date shipments. Could the shipping and delivery issue continue, these numbers will grow. At the same time, there has been an 8.3% reduction in crop production from last year as well. 

In global markets, we have seen export of in-shell down to 42.53%, while kernels export has seen a slight increase of 8.17%. Again, these numbers are primarily due to the shipping and delivery issues faced in America. 

Until the time supply chain issues are not sorted, it will be hard to make any predictions on the future direction of the walnut market.