The first crop-year position report is a ledger with one conspicuous tilt: overseas buyers are pulling harder than U.S. buyers. For California’s almond trade, that changes the shape of the month before it changes anyone’s check.
Exports reached 143 million pounds, compared with 109 million a year earlier, according to the August shipment figures.
All shipments together came to 190.1 million pounds, a 20.5% year-on-year increase. The export line supplied most of that lift; the monthly total is not a story of every market moving in unison.
India pulls ahead
Shipments to India rose 170%, while Western Europe was up 8%. The destination split points to buyers abroad doing more of the work in a month when the domestic market softened.
U.S. shipments fell 3%. That divergence matters to handlers sorting commitments and inventory: the product is moving, but the demand is increasingly coming from beyond the domestic customer base.
A stronger signal, not a price quote
The August report fits a broader run of export strength: Blue Diamond said global shipments had topped the prior year in six of the preceding seven months, with India’s festival season contributing to demand. That gives the latest figures some context beyond a single busy month.
At the same time, the market has been responding to expectations of a smaller California crop and smaller kernel size, according to Treehouse’s September market update. Export demand can add pressure to available supply and support prices, but a shipment report by itself cannot tell a grower what a buyer will pay.
The useful question at the farm level is whether the stronger export pull is reaching local bids and contract terms. The answer will vary with a grower’s handler, delivery timing, and how much crop is still unpriced.