Production up 20 per cent in 2025 according to ChileNut
Chile’s walnut crop is forecast to grow by around 20 per cent to 168,207 tonnes in 2025 following favourable growing conditions in the run-up to the new season. But industry association ChileNut has warned that the industry faces a challenging scenario due to the need to open new markets and address the impact of pests on production.
Harvest begins with the earliest varieties, Serr and Howard, and then gives way to Chandler, the main variety planted in Chile.
Chilenut said the walnut trees were showing good flowering and fruit set, allowing for a normal to slightly higher number of fruits per plant, considering the reality of Chilean orchards.
Chile’s central region accounts for 67.5 per cent of national production, with 29,158ha planted in Valparaíso, the Metropolitan Region, and O’Higgins. In the southern region, comprising the regions of Maule, Ñuble, Biobío, and La Araucanía, where there are a further 12,800ha, some plantings are feeling the effects from bacterial diseases due to spring rains.
According to ChileNut, planted area has contracted from 46,214ha in 2022 to 41,000ha today, due to farmers uprooting trees due to low prices. However, dried fruit consultancy Afrusec said Trump’s tariff regime had created new opportunities for Chilean nut growers. It said the Mexican market is turning to Chile as it seeks alternatives to US-grown almonds.
Afrusec noted that in the nut market, “prices are strong up to this point, always amidst the uncertainty of the US administration’s political actions, which are breaking new ground”.
