The US 2022/23 pecan crop is anticipated to reach between 290-309 million lbs (in-shell), relatively unchanged compared to the previous campaign (307 million lbs).
This crop estimation was made by Alexander Ott, the executive director of the American Pecan Council. According to Ott, production this year has been adversely affected by drought in the western growing areas, freezing conditions in Oklahoma and hurricane damage in the southeast of the US.
Despite these setbacks, the overall US volumes appear to be solid, largely as a result of a strong output in Georgia. In the October USDA crop estimate, the size of the US harvest was expected to come in at 290.5 million lbs, an increase of 14% year-on-year (YoY).
These strong supply projections, coupled with soft global demand for pecans, have led to the Mintec Benchmark Prices for US pecans (junior mammoth pecan halves) falling on the CFR EU basis in the past four weeks. The benchmark was down by 9% in the four-week period to the 17th of November, at USD 5.35/lb (CFR EU).
Global demand for pecans was muted during 2021/22, with export shipments from the US down 41% y-o-y between September 2021 and August 2022, at 79 million lbs, compared to 133 million lbs (in-shell basis) in the previous campaign, according to data published by the American Pecan Council.
Source: mintecglobal.com