NASS Objective Crop Estimate at 1.8 Billion Pounds

The NASS Objective Estimate for the California almond crop was issued yesterday, projecting a 2015 crop of 1.8 billion pounds. Based on 890,000 bearing acres (up 2.3 percent from last year), a nut count of 5,874 nuts per tree (down 12 percent) and kernel weight of 1.43 grams per kernel (down 1.4 percent), this estimate is lower than the May Subjective Estimate by 50 million pounds.

The 2015 crop projected yield per acre is the lowest since the 2009 crop. This year’s nut counts support per acre yields between those of the 2009 and 2010 crops. The last time the nut count averaged less than 6,000 per tree was in 2009 and 2010.

Blue Diamond’s Global Ingredients Division has more analysis on the Objective Estimate and a June almond market update here.