World almond production

This is driven by the fact that nuts are not only one of the most nutrient-dense plant-based foods available, but that they have also been proven in a number of health studies to reduce risks of heart disease, cancer and diabetes.

Growers have responded by increasing the area of nut trees across many regions and also by adopting agronomic improvements to increase yields. In 2014/15, total tree nut production across all species – including tropical tree nuts - was 3.7 million tonnes (kernel basis). That is a 9% increase on the previous season and a 56% increase during the last decade.

Almond production has doubled in only ten years and now approaches 1.1 million tonnes (Figures 1 and 2). Walnuts and pistachios have also seen significant increases over the same period with 0.66 and 0.64 million tonnes on a kernel and in-shell basis, now produced respectively, every year.

The USA is the world’s largest tree nut producer, accounting for 1.47 million tonnes every year; Turkey, Iran and China are also significant producers of temperate nuts. Most tropical nuts come from India and Vietnam.

Yields vary widely according to nut type. Typically, almonds will produce the highest in-shell and kernel yields per hectare, followed by walnuts.

Almonds

Almonds are often eaten on their own, raw, toasted or dipped in salt, and used as a component of various sweet and savory dishes.

They are sold in a variety of forms, including, whole, sliced (flaked/slivered) and as flour. Almonds produce oil that can be made into butter or milk. Oil contents are typically 54% but can be as high as 62% in some varieties.

Common uses include:

• Breakfast cereals including muesli;
• Marzipan, nougat pastries/cookies and cakes;
• Tagine-based dishes or pasanda and mughlai type curries.

In the 2014/15 season, world production was just under 1.1 million tonnes (kernel basis) or 3 million tonnes (in-shell basis). This is a 96% increase from the 2004/05 season. The USA is the biggest producer of almonds by a large margin, with 78% of world production, virtually all of which, around 350,000ha, is in California. Mean yields over the last decade in the state have risen by 64% to 3.1t/ha (kernel basis).

The next largest producers are Australia and Spain with 0.16 and 0.15 million tonnes (in-shell basis) respectively.

More than 0.65 million tonnes of shelled almonds were exported in 2013, with the USA the main exporting country (Figure 3). The top destinations for US almonds are Spain, followed by Germany and China. Spain is the second-largest exporter, primarily to France and Italy.