September 2001 NEWSLETTER

8800 South Minturn Road
Le Grand California 95333 USA
Office 559-665-8500
FAX 559-665-8588

Almond Industry Position Report

Carry-in August 1, 2001
2001 Net Marketable Crop (Received to date)

August 2001 ( Million Lbs.)

107.3
372.5

165.6
248.0

Total Sold

Uncommitted Inventory (Not Sold)

413.6

66.2

Position Report

Total crop receipts though September were 388.0 million lbs. California Almond Shipments for September were 100.4 million lbs., breaking the 1999 record of 92.7 million lbs. October should also be a strong shipping month. Shipping 750 million Lbs. for the 2001-2002 marketing year should be easily achieved.

2001 Crop Harvest

Harvest started about 7 to 10 days earlier than last year. We received our first almond delivery August 12th. Weather has cooperated quite well; as a result the completion of harvest is about a week away. Quality has been "hit and miss". Orchards are either clean or pretty rough, there seems to be no in between. Insect damage is the same either under 2% or over 5%! Crop size has yet to be determined. Grower production varies from area to area and orchard to orchard. Some orchards have produced good crops and others have fallen short of expectations. Most feel the CASS estimate of 850 million pounds is a bit high. The Almond Huller Processor Association's (AHPA) crop projection as of October 13th came in at 795 mil lbs. going up 5-mil lbs. from the previous week. As harvest draws to a close the AHPA'S survey should become more accurate because the survey is based on true hulled and shelled pounds.

The Market

The market finally began showing signs of life about three weeks ago when the first AHPA report suggested the crop may be less than 800 mil. Lbs. The mentality of "buy it as needed" still exist in the market place. Prices have firmed across the board, with the best increases being seen in Carmel, California, and large sized Nonpareil's. With the crop possibly coming in less than projected, coupled with shipments hitting a record pace, prices should continue their humble recovery. Carry-in for next year's crop should be lower, supporting stronger prices.

Grower Payments

With harvest just about being completed you may be receiving your last "on delivery" payments. The next scheduled payment for POOL contract will be January 5th, 2002. The January payment will bring up the pool payment to 70% of the estimated final payment.

New ABC Website - http://www.almondboard.com

The Almond Board of California has announced that they have a new and improved website. So for those of you that have access to the Internet can check out the new look and the Position Report that allows comparison of any two periods of almond production.