World prices are still nuts

Macadamia prices up as crop forecast falls

A lower revised forecast for Australia’s macadamia crop should keep world record prices steady for Far North Queensland’s small nut industry. Tolga grower Greg O’Neill said it had been a good season. “Macadamias are at world record high prices ... so it’s happy days for growers.”

A LOWER revised forecast for Australia’s macadamia crop should keep world record prices steady for Far North’s small nut industry.

The national forecast dropped to 47,000 tonnes after disrupted harvests and crop losses in the aftermath of Cyclone Debbie and record rainfall at the Northern Rivers in New South Wales.

The 2017 crop prediction is about 10 per cent lower than the original 52,000 forecast, which was on par with last year’s record crop.

Tolga grower Greg O’Neill, who runs Wondaree Macadamias, harvested about 38 tonnes before he wrapped up harvest two weeks ago.

He said it was a “pretty good season”.

“Macadamias are at world record high prices right now so it is happy days for macadamia growers,” he said.

“It is certainly going to keep the market firm. I don’t think there will be any price movement again this season.

“They already jumped up a bit and particularly with the Aussie dollar being a little bit stronger now than it was a couple of months ago.”

Three years ago one kilogram of macadamias fetched about $3.

Today Mr O’Neill will get anywhere between $5 to $5.50 per kilogram.

Strong demand from Japan, China and South Korea has boosted demand for the nut in the past few months.

Australian Macadamia Society chief executive Jolyon Burnett said revised projects showed the industry was susceptible to adverse weather events.

“Australian macadamia growers had laid the groundwork for their third consecutive record crop, but unfortunately these extreme weather events along with challenging harvest conditions have played havoc with those plans,” Mr Burnett said.

“The Australian macadamia crop has been growing steadily since 2014, driven largely by sustained investment into productivity improvements in orchards by our growers.”

The revised crop estimate is based on factory receipts from the Australian Macadamia Handlers Association (AMHA) until end of July.

The final figure will be announced in late November.