Experts forecast that China’s commercial production of in-shell walnuts will remain unchanged from the previous year at 1.4 MMT in MY 2023/24. Cold winter temperatures in Xinjiang damaged the almond crop this year. FAS China forecasts almond production will drop sharply to 5,000 MT. Despite a slowed economy, solid demand and abundant global supplies of almonds and pistachios will encourage increased imports of these commodities. At the same time, retaliatory tariffs have reduced the market share of U.S. almonds and pistachios in China. There is demand for a limited volume of imported walnuts to supply a niche market.
Almonds
FAS China forecasts China’s production of shelled almonds to fall dramatically to 5,000 MT in MY 2023/24 (August-July) due to extremely cold temperature in Shache county of Xinjiang in January that damaged a large number of plants, according to local contacts. Cold temperatures in winter and spring have always been a challenge to almond production in Shache. Adverse weather has wiped out the almond crop twice before in Shache. Under normal weather conditions, Shache produces around 50,000 MT of almonds (shelled basis) a year. The Xinjiang almond yield remains low, largely because of less productive varieties. As a result, Shache almonds are mostly consumed within Xinjiang. Shache almonds growers produce more than 95 percent of Chinese almonds.
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Source:apps.fas.usda.gov
