Leading Australian macadamia grower-processor-marketer closes season with strong sales
Marquis Group has finished the 2024 macadamia harvest season with empty warehouses, marking a strong year for the company.
Growers benefited from a significant increase in the notional price, which rose from A$1.80/kg in 2023 to A$3.20/kg in 2024. The Group finished the season with an intake of 19,350 tonnes of nut in-shell (NIS) at 10 per cent moisture content, up from 18,964 tonnes in the previous season. Additionally, Marquis sold over 5,100 tonnes of macadamia kernels and 4,500 tonnes of high-quality NIS to its global and domestic customers, underlining its market strength and industry leadership.
The Group reinforced its commitment to rewarding its growers and supplying shareholders through accelerated payments, Shareholder NIS bonuses and shareholder dividends. Over the last 12 months, Marquis has returned over A$8.5mn through bonus payments and dividends to its shareholder’s suppliers, following through on its commitment to provide the maximum return to them.
Ben Adams, chief executive of Marquis Macadamias, highlighted the company’s strong performance this season.
“The selling year began with some uncertainty, but the strong global demand, our strategic market positioning and solid customer relationships enabled us to sell out of NIS and kernel, meeting the needs of our customers. This outcome reflects both the strength of the macadamia industry and the trust of our valued customers in the high-quality products and service provided by Marquis,” said Adams.
In December last year, the company accelerated January, February, and March payments, ensuring growers received full payment to notional price payments before the year ended. Additionally, in early February, Marquis announced that Shareholder suppliers would receive a Shareholder NIS Bonus Payment of $0.20/kg, bringing their final 2024 price at 33 per cent SKR to A$3.40/kg.
“This increase is a testament to our commitment to rewarding shareholders who entrusted us with their 2024 crop deliveries,” Adams emphasised.
With positive signs emerging in the macadamia market, Adams expressed confidence in the year ahead.
“We are confident that 2025 will be a year of growth driven by continuing improvement in market conditions and a strengthening US dollar. We are reviewing all available information and will soon be able to announce the 2025 season notional price. All indications point towards a reasonable improvement in the farm gate price, which is positive for our shareholders and suppliers.”
Adams drew attention to the growing demand across various geographic markets and industry sectors.
“We are in a strong position of being completely sold out, having only very limited availability of paste and oil,” he noted.
“Encouraging demand growth is evident as we move into the new season, with many of our major customers requesting early delivery and top-up quantities to their 2024 contracts, indicating that inventory levels are low across the supply chain,” he added.
“We expect demand to continue growing strongly through the balance of the year, and we anticipate finishing the 2025/26 season with very low stock once again.”
Throughout the 2024/25 season, Marquis expanded its global footprint by securing new markets and strengthening existing partnerships.
A significant milestone was entering the Indian market, a key development in the company’s international expansion strategy. Additionally, Marquis reinforced relationships with long-term customers, ensuring stable supply agreements and continued demand growth.
Adams credited the macadamia market’s resilience and the commitment of Marquis growers and shareholders as key factors behind the positive results achieved this season.
“It is the collective support of all our growers that allows Marquis to market the largest volume of Australian-produced and processed kernel. Supporting and servicing our customers is critical to our success,” said Adams.
“To bolster this, we have recently appointed a new international sales manager to service our growing customer base and a business development manager to assist our customers in maximising the use and value of the kernel supplied.”
