A brief update posted by the Chilean Walnut Producers and Exporters Trade Association (Chilenut) projects a 15 to 25% drop year-on-year in volumes this season.

This is due to a delay in harvest, which puts the crop about 10 to 15 days behind schedule.

“The most important quality parameters remain normal, with a slight drop of around 1 percentage point in the case of pulp yield,” the entity said in the April 23 update.

In early February, the Chilean walnut sector projected shipments to reach over 170,000 tons. This was a 6% increase from the 2024 initial projections.

Related articles: Chilean nut exports revised up

Despite these recent challenges, Chilean walnut growers have enjoyed an explosive rise in production volumes in the last seven years, increasing exports by 258%.  

The Indian market in particular has shown promising growth, with an 85% uptick in shipments achieved in 2023.

According to a February shipment report by Chilenut, Türkiye leads imports of Chilean walnuts with roughly 64,963,482 pounds shipped in 2023.