Growing conditions have remained excellent while we move closer to harvest, with the earliest areas just weeks away now.

With the objective estimate coming out on July 7^th, the market has continued to stabilize.  Expect to see the market remain stable up to the estimate...

The Almond Board released the May position report on Thursday, June 11th. Key highlights as below...

This week brought more of the ideal growing conditions expected for this time of the year.

We are starting to see many markets opening up, or at least start signaling target dates to re-open, and this has inspired trading activity throughout the Middle East and Turkey.  The EU has remained relatively quiet up to now.  However, there is signaling that there is pent up demand as local stocks are all but depleted...

California weather continues to remind us all why we love it so much!  Plenty of beautiful sunshine and warm days so far, with more ahead of us.

The Almond Market continued to remain relatively quiet this week following various holidays in many of the major markets, this certainly being the case for both the EU and US Domestic...

California went from rain, hail and snow last week, to temperatures peaking above 105 degrees today.

The Almond Market has remained relatively quiet this week following various holidays in many of the major markets...

California saw an unexpected weather pattern emerge this week with widespread rain, hail, and even some snow in the Sierras.  A welcome sight to be sure.

The Almond Market was relatively quiet this week.  With holidays around the globe in some places and lock downs still in effect in others, we saw little activity.  Business continues to be hand to mouth...

The Almond Board released the April position report on Tuesday, May 12th. Key highlights as below...

The past few days were very exciting in the almond industry.  Both the April Position Report and the NASS Subjective Estimate were released Tuesday.

The subjective estimate for the 2020 crop exceeded expectations at 3.0 billion pounds.  As 2.96 billion pounds had already been mentioned weeks earlier, the market had somewhat already factored this in...

This week brought more beautiful weather to California and the sun shined brightly on the almond orchards.  While there has been some reports of more drop (trees shedding some almonds) than normal, an excellent crop remains expected.  Next Tuesday is a big day as both the subjective estimate and the April position report will be released...

The almond growing season continues on with ideal weather conditions thus far.  We edge closer to the USDA subjective estimate of the 2020 crop scheduled for May 12, 2020, the same day as the Almond Board's position report for April shipments...

We suspect that everyone’s dwellings must have all DIY projects well underway (if not already completed by now!).  With fresh sourdough rising and tasty macarons fresh out of the oven, the pantries are getting full! 

Yes, we are all still hard at work and for all the essential workers bravely facing their jobs every day, we must not forget that they are putting themselves at risk for the greater good helping to manufacture, transport goods, and service and stock the shelves!   Please do what you can to support them...

The Almond Board released the March position report on Thursday, April 9th. Key highlights as below...

We hope this finds you doing well along with all your family, friends, and neighbors.  Now is a great time to reflect on all our relationships and check up on those we may not have talked to recently, especially your favorite almond company... just kidding.  Yet we do need a little levity these days!

The March position report was released from the California Almond Board last Thursday and was very favorable by all accounts.  Shipments exceeded market expectations, crop receipts have all but concluded, and new sales of 174 million pounds were added on during the month...

This week we have seen COVID-19 reach a high in the east as we pause to pray for all of those directly affected by the virus. While we must stay steady with our due diligence, we can at least see there is a flattening of the curve in NY, NJ, CA and many EU countries with fewer new cases occurring.  This gives us strength in knowing the sheltering in place is working. 

While COVID-19 continues to grip our Nation, we would like to take the time to thank our front line workers and those of our customers, suppliers and partners. Since after healthcare, food is the next necessity to support people through this crisis, these employees have been deemed essential in nearly all countries in the world.

On the almond front, processors have been busy trying to fill existing orders that are being pulled forward but new business has been limited as the virus dominates the conversation...

The Almond Board of California released the March position report last week.  Key highlights were as follows...

After a fairly long period, we witnessed sizeable trades in local Turkish and European markets. Hazelnut prices have corrected from the highs in May, which has prompted some European buyers to cover at these levels.

Offers have declined from the high levels of 48-50 TL now to 42-43 TL. No large stocks are available at these levels, but we have seen some speculators now keen to offload their position. With a stable TL, equivalent USD prices have fallen from above $7/kg now to $6.40/kg in the span of 2 weeks...

Open market liquidity continues to be extremely limited. After the TMO declaration of 24 TL inshells, we witnessed a couple of days when we had offers below 50 TL, but as the news of substantial over-subscription of the TMO allocation hit coupled with currency depreciation by another 2-3%, liquidity has again been constrained. We have last heard of some trades being concluded at 51 TL kernels...

Hazelnut market liquidity continues to be extremely limited. Turkish prices have been moving up daily with very low traded volumes.

The frost during the end of March and cold weather we encountered in early April did not affect the crop in a significant way. The sentiment locally in Turkey, however, has changed...

The 2019 crop expectation is 800K in shells – which is a record crop for the last 10 years. Prices dropped in the earlier part of the season, but the Turkish Grain Board (TMO) intervened in early October to give a floor price of 16 TL in-shell – around 32 TL kernel equivalent. TMO ended up purchasing around 80K in-shells and supported the market. Post-December, the liquidity suddenly dried up, possibly due to 2 reasons...

As we enter the late stages of the sowing season for Indian, West African, and Chinese Sesame, there are an abundance of factors worth commenting on that go beyond the effects of the current COVID crisis...

With the upcoming harvest set to commence in May for Quinoa, the market is taking note of a variety of factors on the supply and demand side that may be impacted due COVID-19. April we did see spot demands and enquiries from several buyers, but overall demand seems to have slowed down.  Usually April is a month for contracting volume or genuine pricing discussion, which was missing...

The Sesame Market is seeing a number of COVID-related S&D disruptions. Port closures in India and Africa will affect global availability over the coming months, as these are some of the leading exporters of Sesame.

In China, things are returning to normal. With restaurants now operating as they were before the onset of COVID, Sesame consumption will normalize. There is a significant amount of stocks in Chinese ports, which could affect their demand for imports in the short term, but ultimately will expect this to balance out as these stocks dwindle and the supply tightness due to port closures increases....

With the upcoming harvest set to commence in May, we are taking note of a variety of factors on the supply and demand side that will impact pricing. The global COVID crisis will play a part in the short-term market leading up to harvest and possibly beyond.

Demand for Quinoa exports has remained steady over the past several years and we have not been anticipating a demand surge in 2020. Up until last week, sentiment has been production should closely match demand. However, with the recent trend of stockpiling groceries, we are seeing an increase in spot sales for short coverage and this could squeeze the annual supply a little tighter than originally expected...