West Coast Tree Nut Export Trade

Almonds, pistachios, and walnuts rank among California’s top five agricultural exports, along with dairy products and wines. That places these “specialty crop” commodities in the crosshairs of trade ministries around the globe looking for convenient targets for tariff retaliation.

Shipments of almonds to foreign customers thus far in the current crop year (August 1, 2014-May 30, 2025) have totaled 1.693 million pounds, a mere 7,342 pounds down from the same months in the previous crop year. 74.7% of the state’s almond have been shipped abroad this year, up from 73.7% a year earlier. Exports of walnuts, meanwhile, have fallen sharply. The inshell walnut export trade is off by 57.9% to 129,091,000 pounds from 305,952,000 pounds, while exports of walnut kernels have slipped by 14.4% to 240,753,000 pounds from 281,361,000 pounds. Pistachio exports have amounted to 578,351,535 pounds in the current crop year through the end of this May, although down 21.2% year-over-year, were up 32.1% from this point on the prior crop year. (Pistachio trees are alternate bearing, yielding a large crop in one year followed by a substantially smaller crop in the next.)

Comparable data from agricultural industry groups are not available for exports of hazelnuts (aka filberts) from Oregon’s Willamette Valley, where 99% of the nation’s hazelnuts are grown. Federal export statistics, however, show that exports of hazelnuts through the first four months of this year ($73,569,312) were up 34.0% from the previous year.  Canada has long been the top foreign destination of U.S. hazelnut exports, absorbing an average of 67.2% of those shipments over the past ten years and boasting a 76.2% share for the first four months of this year. Just over 70% of seaborne hazelnut exports were shipped to Europe last year, with the Port of Norfolk edging out the Northwest Seaport Alliance Ports of Tacoma and Seattle as the nation’s leading gateway for hazelnut export.  

According to the Almond Board of California, almond exports to China/Hong Kong during the current crop year (August 1, 2024, through May 30, 2025) were down 51.4% to 48,486,601 pounds from 99,701,657 pounds. The California Walnut Board reports that inshell walnut shipments to China/Hong Kong In their current crop year (September 1, 2024, through May 30, 2025) were up 32.7%, but the much larger trade in walnut kernels fell by 30.4% to 6,066,899 pounds from 8,718,223 pounds a crop year earlier. Meanwhile, pistachios, which share the same crop year as walnuts, saw exports to China/Hong Kong all but collapse to 1,328,000 pounds from 8,708,447 pounds.