The latest US pecan data shows pecan exports from the US falling by just under 45% for the first five months of the season totaling just over 21.6 million pounds.
The American Pecan Council released the latest pecan position report for the month of January 2022. The report shows pecan shipments have fallen from last year’s record highs in both the domestic and export markets.
The export data shows pecans being shipped around the globe broken down by region. While the data does change quite regularly after publication, with today’s published numbers we see that pecan exports to most regions have fallen. Many packers and shippers have reported significant shipping delays that have helped contribute to the issues.
Pecan exports to Europe are showing an increase, but only based on the newly published numbers that reduced last year’s shipment by 6 million pounds. January of 2021 reported the Sept – Jan exports to Europe at 13,618,620 while the January 2022 report shows only 7,452,840 a difference of 6,165,780. Based on the originally reported exports to Europe, shipments would still be behind last year’s numbers. So whether this can be looked at as a bright spot for exports is not so clear.
The Middle East and Australia are also showing a slight increase in pecan exports from the US based on today’s reported numbers, but overall exports have fallen 44.69% for the season. Surprisingly, pecan prices on the farm have increased over last year with demand for in-shell much higher than last year. This is attributed to the short crop this year as Georgia did not produce nearly what was predicted earlier in the season. Water issues in the southwest have also contributed to other large pecan producing areas with a less than stellar crop load this year.
While pecan exports are currently down, the marketing in foreign countries is expected to increase with the increase of marketing dollars that is expected to come from the newly formed APPB.