At the China International Tree Nuts Conference 2018 held in Zhuhai in early August, Pino Calcagni, President of the International Nut & Dried Fruit Council (INC), introduced the international nut production and price changes.

According to the International Nut & Dried Fruit Council (INC), it was expected that six kinds of tree nuts such as pistachio, almond, macadamia, cashew nut, brazil nut, and pecan will be richly harvested this year, while the yield of walnuts, hazelnuts, and pine nuts would decrease.

Among them, due to the high yield of brazil nuts, their international price dropped from 2.8 US dollars per pound to 1.6 US dollars per pound. The prices of pine nuts, pecans, hazelnuts, cashew nuts, walnuts and so on all dropped slightly. In addition, the pistachio yield was quite considerable in US, having a rising price, and the pistachio yield experienced a normal level this year, having a still higher price.

In terms of imports, according to the data of the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Foodstuffs, Native Produce & Animal By-Products (CFNA), domestically imported tree nuts in the first half of 2018 were mainly pistachios and almonds. Due to the Sino-US trade war, it was necessary to find alternative importing countries in the second half of the year, such as Iran, Australia, Turkey, Syria, Spain, and Italy. Due to the small stock of these two tree nuts, domestic demand was expected to be large at the end of the year.

In terms of walnuts, due to the high yield of Chinese walnuts, the import volume of walnuts fell in the first half of the year, and prices were expected to fall. In the second half of the year, due to the Sino-US trade war, imports turned to Chile, Australia and other countries that signed a free trade agreement with China.

The supply and demand tend of macadamias kept stable this year. As domestic macadamia was expected to be productive, import demand had weakened, the domestic price was expected to stabilize, but the international market price was firm. Affected by the bumper harvest in the main producing countries, domestic buyers returned back to the cashew and brazil nut markets, and prices had dropped significantly, which would further stimulate imports.

Due to the increasing production and high yield of hazelnuts in China, the import volume fell together with international price. The prices of foreign shelled fruit pecans and their nuts were still strong, domestic supply and demand tended to be balanced, but domestic and international prices were relatively large, and the market import and export prices were deadlocked.