Domestic almond utilization totaled 612.5 million pounds for Aug-May 2017/18, 11 percent higher than last season to date, and cumulative season exports were 1.34 billion pounds, up 10 percent year over year.
Domestic shipments ranged from 2 to 9 million pounds higher per month compared to last season, except for September (the only month so far to dip below its year-ago volume) and April, when domestic use spiked to over 73 million pounds.
Exports earned their year-over-year gains November-February; March and April export volumes were very close to 2017 levels, and May exports dipped 20 million pounds lower than May 2017. Europe, which took in 37 percent of U.S. almond exports in 2017, has been importing at a faster rate this year, perhaps to get ahead of retaliatory tariffs that may be imposed on U.S. almonds in early August.
NASS’s subjective almond report forecasts 2018 production at 2.30 billion pounds, up from 2017’s subjective estimate of 2.20 billion pounds and actual production of 2.27 billion.
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