Update on Australian Macadamia Season 2024
We visited Macadamia Farms in Northern New South Wales and Southeast Queensland last week, and we wanted to give our customers and interested parties an update on the status of 2024 Australian Macadamia harvest.
Seriously, it has been raining on the East Coast of Australia now for 4 – 5 weeks. The reason for this relates to a rare meteorological event that mean that a Low Pressure system full of water was blocked in over the East Coast, meaning that it rained for weeks without stopping.
This has had a negative impact on harvesting Macadamia Nuts in Australia. When Macadamia Nuts are mature, they fall from the tree onto the ground, where Macadamia Nut harvesters that sweep the nuts off the ground. This can only be done on dry ground, and we certainly haven’t had that. Usually at the end of March, beginning of April, Macadamia nuts are usually arriving at the Processors.
This picture was taken on 17th May 2024 – under all that water is Macadamia Nuts!
What is the impact of excess water on Macadamia Nuts?
The feedback that we have from processors is that Macadamia Nuts are very hardy and have the strongest shells of all nuts and still have their husk before processing, so if the In Shell Nuts are dried naturally there should be little impact on quality, all processors have noted that Macadamia Nuts will require additional sorting to take out Unsound Kernel (USK).
Some images of Macadamia Nuts that have been subject to water show that the shells are quite dark. These will return to normal colour as the nuts are dried naturally before husking.
Shells on Macadamia Nuts
Customers can be assured that the quality of Australian Macadamia Nuts will continue to be superior to Macadamia Nuts grown in other countries.
We are now getting good weather in Eastern Australia and all Macadamia processors are preparing for an influx from the farms. This means however, that processors in Australia are running 6-8 weeks behind in shipping stock.
Prices and Stock availability 2024 Australia Macadamia Season
An update on pricing in Australia. 2023 saw a crash in Australian Macadamia prices to the farmer, in fact, the price the farmer was paid for Macadamia Nuts was below the cost to produce and harvest, therefore, it is estimated that 30% of the 2023 crop wasn’t collected by farmers. This was an unsustainable situation.
2024 prices to the farmer have increased by approximately 40% this year, and this has meant that the price of Australian Macadamia Nuts has increased versus 2023 prices.
Prices for Nut in Shell (NIS) are circa $4.00- $4.20 USD
There is expected to be a reduced amount of Nut in Shell sold in 2024, as there is increased demand for Kernel this year.
We are still taking orders for Nut in Shell, please contact us to discuss availability and price and we are also exporting Kernel – Raw, Roasted and Coated.
Our company has also just launched our own brand of Macadamia Kernel – Australis Food Group – with Roasted & Lightly Salted, Truffle Flavour and Wasabi Flavours available.