In a few months, as the season starts yielding new data, the National Almond Board, which brings together various agents of the sector (unions, cooperatives, producers' organizations, shellers, processing industry...), will draw up a new estimate for the 2022/23 campaign, as explained by Josep Moragas, commercial director of Unió Nuts. However, the forecasts already available for the Spanish almond industry point to a difficult situation this season, since last October, the Ministry of Agriculture announced that the national production would fall by 44% compared to the previous year, and by 40% compared to the average.
Nevertheless, contrary to what one might expect, given this significant production decline, "this year prices are worse than in previous years due to oversupply, which is largely due to the stocks left over from the previous year, and also due to the situation at the different origins, especially California, which are going through the same situation," said Josep. "The excess supply is remarkable and, as a result, the demand is slower, given the prospect of being able to buy at even cheaper prices."
"In previous years, there had been a lot of speculation and excess purchases. The product was cheap and purchases were high. The prospect was that with a low harvest, prices would rise, but this has not been the case. Besides, given the general situation of the economy, consumption also tends to suffer with these high priced products."
Almonds are, by far, the most important nut in terms of foreign trade for Spain, which is the world's second largest exporter of this product. Last season, it accounted for 92% of exports in the segment, with shipments exceeding 110,300 tons, and the question this year is what is going to happen to exports.
"Markets do not change easily from one day to the next," said Josep, "especially for a company like ours, which is specialized in products tailored to the customer's needs. We export around 70% and we will continue to do so."
"Also, the vast majority of our exported production consists 100% of Spanish almonds. This continues to be the case. In fact, we work with Spanish almonds for many reasons, but their differentiated quality and the crop's sustainability outweigh other market factors," said the commercial director of the leading nut cooperative in Spain, made up of more than 8,000 members distributed between Aragon, Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, the Region of Valencia, Castile-La Mancha, Murcia and Extremadura.
UNIÓ Nuts has an annual turnover of 55 million Euro, with almonds, together with hazelnuts, as its main product. It processes and markets some 5,000 tons of almonds per year. "We supply processed products, basically transformed through a roasting process, tailor-made according to the customer's requirements, and with a high quality certified by IFS Higher Level. To make this possible, we have a highly professional team and mechanical equipment with the best and latest technology."
"All this is complemented by integrated farms devoted to the cultivation of almonds. That is where the best options are studied and where work is focused on the implementation of regenerative agriculture, promoting generational replacement with the incorporation of young producers and preventing the abandonment of farms and villages," said Josep Moragas.
"The only official market setting a price for organic almonds is the one in Reus"
Regenerative agriculture and organic production are both very important segments for the sector in Spain, which is the world leader in organic almonds. Andalusia accounts for 43% of the national organic almond acreage; however, in this autonomous region, which produced 33.8% of all Spanish almonds in 2021, the drop in the production this season has reached a shocking 57%, so a significant decline in the organic production is expected.
"However, the lower production of organic almonds has coincided with an extraordinary fall in the demand, to such an extent that the only official market setting a price is that of Reus. The others, which have no on-going operations, do not report any prices. It's a surprising situation, but very real. The price is down 2 € / kg and I dare not say if the decline has come to an end."
For more information:
Josep Moragas
Director Comercial
Unió Nuts
Tel.: +34 977 330 055
www.unio-nuts.coop