August 2020 Almond Position Report
Demand and prices alike have been strong the past few weeks. Most major markets participated throughout the course of the last month. India was first out of the gate trying to capitalize on lower origin prices and good premiums in local markets. Other major markets started taking longer positions as the old saying started to ring true, there is no better cure for low prices than low prices. Leading up to today, prices in general had increased 15 to 35 cents across most items with the biggest jump in price being on the larger sized kernels like 23/25 and 20/22. The upward trend on prices will most likely continue as overall sales and shipments start the season off strong and shipments are expected to stay strong for the months of September and October. The willingness to cover longer positions is evident with sales reaching over 1 billion pounds bringing California's sold position of the total marketable crop to 36.8% versus 25.3% the same time last year. With the number of sales on the books and the seller's momentum the short-term outlook is strong. Here is a snapshot of today's report.
2020 Crop: The early varieties (NP and IND) are for the most part done being harvested and picked up. Reports on sizing is fairly consistent up and down the state reporting NP mainly between 27/30, 25/27 and very little 20/22 while IND is coming in smaller than average as well. Pollinators are just starting to be harvested in some areas and very little news is available as of now. Over the next 7 to 14 days more updates will be available, and we will keep you posted. Crop receipts are trending ahead of last year and eyes will be on the estimated 3 billion pounds.