The macadamia market continues to be active. It is peak season with crop being delivered to the factories in main growing areas in South Africa and Australia. The volume in South Africa and Australia seems to be a bit lower, but it is still early days. The quality overall is looking good again with sizing in South Africa being a bit larger, which is good news. In Kenya the season is practically over. It has been a difficult year again for most processors as prices of raw material was high and crack-outs remain on the low side.
If we look at the demand side we see continuous demand for NIS as it looks like lesser volumes have been allocated to NIS. Consequently prices have firmed over the past weeks. This means NIS is becoming more and more interesting again as it is moving close to parity with kernels. Buyers are currently pushing for getting their shipments on the water, which is helpful for the cashflow of the factories.
On the kernel side most of the business has been done already in Europe with mainly wholesale that still needs to cover and mainly snacking styles. Prices are very stable at the moment and business is continuing. For the US there is a lot more uncertainty as to the tariff and the impact. If it is going to be 10% for everybody the impact will be marginal, but if tariffs for certain origins are going to be a lot higher than some problems can be expected. The date of some more clarity is closing in.
Demand in China is increasing as well, which is a good sign and may be connected to the lower availability of smaller sized NIS, which was used for local cracking. Prices in China are also rising a bit after offering at quite a discount in the domestic market.
Overall the situation is pretty much unchanged where snacking styles are stable and ingredient styles are still under pressure although prices seem to have found their base. In case of interest please don’t hesitate to contact us.