Australian almond export volumes were up 12.52 per cent year-on-year as of 31 December (2018), on the back of a significant increase in shipments to North-East Asian markets.
Data from the Almond Board of Australia’s December position report showed 59,051 tonnes of the nut had been exported since 1 March 2018, the point at which the industry calculates new season volumes. It was an improvement on the 52,482 tonnes exported at the same point of the previous season.
Shipments to North-East Asia (China, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan) totalled 12,464 tonnes as of 31 December 2018, up 749 per cent on the 1,467 tonnes sent up until 31 December 2017.
The Chinese market absorbed almost all of this volume (11,414 tonnes), with small volumes sent to Hong Kong (249 tonnes) and Japan (799 tonnes).
Sales to South-East Asia were up 84 per cent over the 2018/19 season, with Vietnam (8,343 tonnes) the leading market in this region.
India remains the biggest single-country market for Australian almond exports, taking 15,144 tonnes up until 31 December 2018.
Shipments to Western Europe over the opening 10 months of the 2018/19 season (13,426 tonnes) were down 25 per cent on 2017/18 (17,992 tonnes), while exports to Europe as a whole came in at 14,051 tonnes, down 25 per cent.
There was a slight uplift in trade to the Americas (2,150 tonnes), while shipments to the Middle East and Africa dipped from 4,490 tonnes in 2017/18 to 3,674 tonnes in 2018/19.
The Almond Board of Australia will have results on the full 2018/19 season following its conclusion at the end of this month.
