The Almond Board of California March position report shows that March shipments reached 281.07 million pounds, up 14.7% year-on-year. This is a record for the month and the highest monthly figure since October 2020. This was the third consecutive month of record shipments, placing Q1 2023 as the highest Q1 shipments on record.
The shipment figure exceeded industry expectations, with market participants surveyed by Mintec ahead of the release estimating March shipments in the range of 240-270 million pounds, with the majority of respondents returning figures of 245-255 million pounds.
The strong performance was driven by buyers taking advantage of attractive pricing throughout the season, with almond prices at 20-year lows in the months leading into March.
New sales were the lowest for the month since March 2018, at 143 million pounds. The total industry sold position came in at 72%, 11 percentage points below the three-year average (2020-2022) for this point in the season.
