Chilean Nut Production Growing Steadily

Healthy food products such as nuts are seeing substantial growth in their market size. The expanding middle class of conscious food consumers is increasingly seeking out almonds, walnuts, and hazelnuts, amongst others. Furthermore, the nut group is used in a wide array of consumer goods, such as snack bars, cereal, oils, cosmetics, and baked goods, amongst others. This article explores the growing nut industry in Chile and its main international markets.

Chilean Nut Production Growing Steadily

Chile is the third largest walnut exporter in the world and it accounted for approximately 80,000 metric tons of walnut production during 2014/15 and 2015/16. It is expected that total exports will reach 100,000 metric tons during 2016/17. Within Chile’s walnut production, approximately 90% of all yields are traded internationally, which leaves only a small percentage for domestic consumption. In total, Chile has exported close to 76,000 metric tons of walnuts over the last two years. The main destinations for these exports are Turkey, Italy, Brazil, and Germany. There are two main ways for walnuts to be sold an exported, either shelled (without the shell) or with the shell. In fact, some countries only allow the import of nuts with(in) their shells to prevent diseases or previous contamination. In the case of Chilean walnuts, they are mainly sold still in the shell. For example, Turkey bought some 23,000 metric tons or the equivalent to US$98 million worth of Chilean walnuts during 2014/15.

Walnut production in Chile is expected to continue growing during years to come as the surface area devoted to these crops continues to grow. Likewise, climatological factors are expected to improve. Given the high prices in the international market as well as the growing demand from middle and upper income countries, the surface area of Chilean nut production has been growing at a rate of about 10% every year. The most productive regions for the nut industry in Chile are located towards the center of the country, in the regions surrounding the capital Santiago. In the specific case of walnuts, there are approximately 28,000 hectares of crops throughout the country.

Weather plays a key role in agricultural production in general and nut crops in particular. It is estimated that the large amounts of rain during the first trimester of the year cost Chilean walnut production some 20,000 metric tons during 2015/16. Nut production during the first semester of the year is particularly important because the months May, June, July, and August are the busiest in terms of international exports and volume of walnuts traded.

While Chile is a large producer and exporter of tree-nuts, such as walnuts and hazelnuts, the South American nation imports almonds from countries like the United States. It is estimated that, during 2016/17, Chile will export 7,000 metric tons of almonds and import 2,000 metric tons from the US alone. The significant amount of imports is because the domestic demand for almonds is significantly larger; more than 30% of the national almond production is consumed domestically.

(Read more about Weather, Agriculture & Niche Products in Asia)