We are pleased to provide the below almond market summary in response to the March shipping figures released by the Almond Board today. Our sales team is available to answer any questions, sales inquiries, or offer more detailed market analysis. You can find our full contact details, along with a link to the position report at the bottom of this email.
The Almond Board released its March 2015 Industry Position Report today, shipments for the month were 190.137 mil lbs versus 151.288 mil lbs in March 2014. Crop receipts are now 1.862 bil lbs and uncommitted inventory is 559 mil lbs versus 536 in March 2014.
Both sellers and buyers expected a large March due mainly to the West Coast ports operating at capacity for the full month. While usually production limits the amount packers can ship in a given month, it was container availability limiting industry capacity as processors shipped inventory backed up by the port labor slow down. This was proven to be true with domestic shipments down slightly from March of 2014. We have seen strong demand end of last week and into this week from India, Europe, and the US as buyers try to cover summer ship periods. Recent trades on 2014 crop NP Inshell at over 3.50/lb FAS 70% SS and STD Max 5 at 4.26 FAS have been reported. We expect this firming trend to continue for the near future as buyers continue to cover their remaining 2014 crop requirements.
The extended CA drought continues to dominate global, national, and local news with the almond industry becoming a focus point. Below is a link to an article written by Richard Waycott at the Almond Board addressing this crucial issue, please take the time to read. It is too early to tell exactly how much the drought will effect 2015 crop. What we do hear from early reports from growers throughout the state is that of an inconsistent crop especially on the NP. New crop prices have increased dramatically in the past 10 days with some grades/sizes seeing close to a .25/lb increase.
Click for Almond Board Article
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