Tree nut markets in the US are expected to improve

The “perfect storm” that led to several years of unprofitable returns for California almond growers may have subsided, but time will tell how quickly the industry recovers. One leading bank thinks it could be sooner rather than later. Rabobank’s RaboResearch Food & Agribusiness division suggests an optimistic outlook for almond and pistachio farmers. Walnut farmers could likewise see a positive trend, though that U.S. industry has much further to go to climb from the pit dug by global competition from China and Chile. California almond farmers began printing their financial ledgers with red ink in 2020 when the global COVID pandemic caused a worldwide economic downturn. Later that year almond farmers harvested their largest crop ever at just over three billion pounds, putting a glut of almonds on the market. For the next three seasons, the U.S. almond industry carried forward from 600 million to over 800 million pounds of unsold nuts, adding that to new crops that ranged from 2.5 ...