Dear HWA Growers,
The August 2020 Position Report was released Friday September 11th. The report was expected to be positive, but it exceeded expectations across the board and set new shipping records in every category.
The year to date crop receipts are now at 272.13 million pounds, this is an increase of 35.83% over last seasons 200.35 million pounds. Growers and processors in the southern half of the valley feel that the crop is coming in lighter than the 3.0 billion pound estimate due to lower yields, smaller average nut size, and turnout running a few percent points lower than 2019. The northern growers and processors seem to be on the other side and feel their yields are way up from 2019 and the 3.0 billion pounds is out there. Only time will tell which group ends up being correct.
Total shipments for the month were 193.05 million pounds. This is an increase of 30.7% over last year and set a new shipment record for August. Export shipments were 127.12 million pounds, which is up a huge 49.1% from last year. Domestic shipments came in at 65.93 million pounds, up 5.6% from last August. A portion of the huge jump in exports could be attributed to countries continuing to open up from COVID lockdown, but like most things in life, it likely boils down to money. Prices have been at historical lows for the past few months and the industry has been willing to sell in order to get the record crop out the door.
Following this report prices have jumped up $0.15 to $0.20 per pound. This increase will hopefully energize some of the quote growers that have been sitting out waiting for better pricing. The strong sales and shipments in the early part of the season is what got the prices to where they are, the industry will need more quote participation to keep the prices moving upward. The 2020 crop is currently 37% sold compared 25% sold at this same time in 2019. The industry is showing that we can move this record crop, but if sales start to stall due to lack of participation pricing could start to slide back down.
If you have any questions, or interest in sales please feel free to reach out to your Grower Representatives.
