Walnuts, Juglans regia

Walnut is a large tree that can live up to 1000 years, native to Central Asia. There were gigantic forests formed almost exclusively by walnut trees (walnut trees excrete toxins that kill other plants  in their vicinity, on e of them is juglone , it does not let the plant breathe) but they all gone now , courtesy of Bronze and Iron Age along with modern logging. Some forests still remain in modern Kyrgyzstan  in hard to get to, mountainous areas.
Walnuts were cultivated since at least 4 000  years ago. Schools and teachers existed 3500-4000 years ago  in Ancient Persia that  were teaching "the right way" of planting and cultivating walnuts.
Today, about 60 countries are growing walnuts commercially. Over  2 236 231 tonnes were produced in 2009, more than ever before. Production compared with 1961 grew 4.5 times. That left an average consumer with about  328 grams of walnuts in 2009. That's about 28 walnuts,  800 calories and 20-21 grams of protein.
World crop is big enough to feed 7.46 million people for an entire year at 2000 calories a day and 50g of protein a day.

834 874 hectares of land were used for walnut production , more than ever before (increase by 542% compared with 1969). That's a territory almost the size of  Puerto-Rico. About 0.54% of all permanent crops land  in the world is under walnut production.



Top producer with 915 000 tonnes (2009)  is China, which increased its walnut production almost 23 times compared with 1962. Top producer per capita is Turkey  with 2.42 kg of walnuts per person. Iran has somewhat similar per-capita production , around 2.35-2.38 kg or so. United States is a top exporter ( $241 mln in 2004). Virtually all US walnuts come from 2 small valleys in California.

By the way, there  is hardly anything tastier than a FRESH  young  walnut,  around September or so, when they just start to fall from the tree. At this point, a lightly bitter skin  is easily detached from ivory- white kernels  and it  makes the best snack ever. Almonds and hazelnuts taste better fresh from the tree as well.

Best average yield  worldwide was in 4943.8 kg per hectare in 1982. In 2009 it was just 2678.5 kg per hectare. Even in 1961/62 they had higher yields than that. Perhaps Chinese orchards aren't fully mature yet.
Record yield belongs to Spain, almost 87.5 tonnes per hectare (1962, total area--167 hectares). That's over 213 000 000 calories--per hectare! If I remember correctly, walnut can increase its yields continuously  well onto it's 400s, 500s, I  guess that's  the case here. Unfortunately for walnuts, it's wood is very expensive so nobody let them live that long.


Wholesale price for walnuts is about $2 per pound, world crop is about  $10 billion worth.

My main sources are FAO.org, cia.gov, usda.gov, alibaba.com, many others.Thank you for your visit.


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	item	2007		2008		2009
Afghanistan	Walnuts, with shell	9206		9660			M
Argentina	Walnuts, with shell	10000	F	10000	F	10000	F
Australia	Walnuts, with shell	22	F	22	F		M
Austria	Walnuts, with shell	18992		19130		18937
Azerbaijan	Walnuts, with shell	9693		8376		8658
Belarus	Walnuts, with shell	12000	F	12000	F		M
Belgium	Walnuts, with shell	520	F	520	F		M
Bhutan	Walnuts, with shell	820		820	F		M
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Walnuts, with shell	5098		4839		5710
Brazil	Walnuts, with shell	2225		2314			M
Bulgaria	Walnuts, with shell	1400		500	F	281
Chile	Walnuts, with shell	23000	F	23000	F		M
China	Walnuts, with shell	629986		828635		915000	F
Croatia	Walnuts, with shell	8228		6828		7226
Cyprus	Walnuts, with shell	248		207		270
Czech Republic	Walnuts, with shell	9563		9500	F		M
Egypt	Walnuts, with shell	27000	F	27000	F		M
France	Walnuts, with shell	32635		36591			M
Georgia	Walnuts, with shell	11800		6200		8100
Germany	Walnuts, with shell	17000	F	17000	F		M
Greece	Walnuts, with shell	20956		15100		15000	F
Hungary	Walnuts, with shell	3620		5751		5403
India	Walnuts, with shell	33000	*	37000	*	36000	*
Iran (Islamic Republic of)	Walnuts, with shell	170000	F	170000	F		M
Iraq	Walnuts, with shell	1650	F	1650	F		M
Italy	Walnuts, with shell	16000	F	17000	F		M
Jordan	Walnuts, with shell		M		M		M
Kazakhstan	Walnuts, with shell	1382		1427			M
Kyrgyzstan	Walnuts, with shell	5500	F	5500	F	5500	F
Lebanon	Walnuts, with shell	2200		2200	F		M
Luxembourg	Walnuts, with shell	125		125		105
Mexico	Walnuts, with shell	79162		69620			M
Montenegro	Walnuts, with shell	658		658	F		M
Morocco	Walnuts, with shell	13776		12894			M
Nepal	Walnuts, with shell	4521		4649		4984
New Zealand	Walnuts, with shell		M		M		M
Occupied Palestinian Territory	Walnuts, with shell	148		186			M
Pakistan	Walnuts, with shell	15195		12722			M
Peru	Walnuts, with shell	237		287			F
Poland	Walnuts, with shell	6372		11577		12241
Portugal	Walnuts, with shell	4100		3752		4116
Republic of Korea	Walnuts, with shell	990		979			M
Republic of Moldova	Walnuts, with shell	10092		13742		11500	*
Romania	Walnuts, with shell	25516		32259		38329
Russian Federation	Walnuts, with shell	1800	F	1800	F		M
Serbia	Walnuts, with shell	24823		24405		25172
Slovakia	Walnuts, with shell	1000	F	1000	F	1000	F
Slovenia	Walnuts, with shell	2969		2844		2956
Spain	Walnuts, with shell	9512		9512	F		M
Switzerland	Walnuts, with shell	2482		2449		2429
The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia	Walnuts, with shell	4786		4863		4981
Turkey	Walnuts, with shell	172572		170897		177298
Ukraine	Walnuts, with shell	82320		79170		83890
United States of America	Walnuts, with shell	297555		395530		376480
Uzbekistan	Walnuts, with shell	15300		15300			M
Yemen	Walnuts, with shell	0		0			M
World + (Total)	Walnuts, with shell	1859755	A	2149990	A	2236231	A

Almonds, Almendras, Prunus dulcis

Almond is a small , 5-10 m high tree, that starts producing on its 5th year.
It has been cultivated since 3000 BC all over Southern Europe and North Africa, along with Middle East.
 Today, USA dominates this market with 1 162 200 tons produced in 2009.
The biggest per capita production is in Lebanon , 6.9 kg of nuts produced in 2009. Spain doesn't fall very far behind with 5.9-6 plus a strong growth of production rate. With all that Spain is still number 1 buyer of US almonds.
In 2009,  2 311 682 + tons of almonds (with shell) were  produced, leaving a potential consumer with 335 grams of nuts to consume.
Assuming 60% edible weight, world crop can provide 11.36 million people  with 2000 calories a day, or an entire population of Cuba.

1 766 641+ hectares ( over 1.14% of all permanent crop land in the world ) were used for production of almonds in 2009, a territory similar in size to Kuwait.
Also during 2009, American exporters sold $1.42 billion in shelled almonds to customers in 101 nations.


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US Exported Almond Sales

Among the top 12 buyers of American shelled almonds, 3 countries below (Spain, Germany and Hong Kong) generated over a third of the total $1.4 billion in US exported almond sales in 2009.

1. Spain … US$211.1 million
2. Germany … $145.1 million
3. Hong Kong … $138.4 million
4. United Arab Emirates … $111.3 million
5. Canada … $86.2 million
6. Japan … $78.5 million
7. Netherlands … $61.4 million
8. Italy … $53.9 million
9. South Korea … $45.1 million
10. France … $44.6 million
11. India … $35.7 million
12. Russia … $35.1 million

Overall, US export sales for shelled almonds were down 3.6% from $1.48 billion in 2008. Among the top 12 almond buyers above, 7 nations generated reduced imported almond sales at rates ranging from a 5.5% slowdown in Canada to a 27% decline in Italy.

Leading the percentage gains in the remaining 5 countries, US exported almond sales were up 58.9% and 57.3% in the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong respectively.

Production by country:

Afghanistan	Almonds, with shell	31481		42000			M
Algeria	Almonds, with shell	34110		39521		47393
Argentina	Almonds, with shell	500		500	F	500	F
Armenia	Almonds, with shell	0	F	0	F		M
Australia	Almonds, with shell	18024		19000	F	18957
Azerbaijan	Almonds, with shell	502		500		505
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Almonds, with shell	55		48		49
Bulgaria	Almonds, with shell	245		300	F	503
Burkina Faso	Almonds, with shell	1300	F	1300	F	1260	Fc
Chile	Almonds, with shell	10400		10500	F	11000	F
China	Almonds, with shell	30000		32000	F	35000	F
Côte d'Ivoire	Almonds, with shell	800	F	800	F		M
Croatia	Almonds, with shell	500		905		1835
Cyprus	Almonds, with shell	668		432		550
France	Almonds, with shell	1591		1042			M
Georgia	Almonds, with shell	770	F	800	F	700	F
Greece	Almonds, with shell	45652		34500			M
Hungary	Almonds, with shell	182		161		144
Iran (Islamic Republic of)	Almonds, with shell	120000		126679			M
Iraq	Almonds, with shell	390	F	390	F		M
Israel	Almonds, with shell	6478		6276		11762
Italy	Almonds, with shell	112644		118723			M
Jordan	Almonds, with shell	1341		1344		1003
Kazakhstan	Almonds, with shell	300	F	300	F		M
Kyrgyzstan	Almonds, with shell	1500		1500	F	1500	F
Lebanon	Almonds, with shell	29400		29400	F		M
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya	Almonds, with shell	25000	F	25000	F		M
Mexico	Almonds, with shell	60	F	60	F	60	F
Morocco	Almonds, with shell	81437		86902			M
Nepal	Almonds, with shell	11		11		9
Occupied Palestinian Territory	Almonds, with shell	5257		6233			M
Pakistan	Almonds, with shell	23382		26614			M
Portugal	Almonds, with shell	11100		9796		12454
Republic of Moldova	Almonds, with shell	1000		1000	F		M
Slovenia	Almonds, with shell	0	F	0	F		M
Spain	Almonds, with shell	187656		173700		276100
Swaziland	Almonds, with shell	750		750	F		M
Syrian Arab Republic	Almonds, with shell	76093		82616		97002
Tajikistan	Almonds, with shell	3200		3200	F		M
The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia	Almonds, with shell	1376		622		819
Tunisia	Almonds, with shell	58000		51500			M
Turkey	Almonds, with shell	50753		52774		54844
Turkmenistan	Almonds, with shell	1000		1000	F		M
Ukraine	Almonds, with shell	20		10		20
United Arab Emirates	Almonds, with shell	850	F	850	F		M
United States of America	Almonds, with shell	1212900		1410000		1162200
Uzbekistan	Almonds, with shell	18500		18500	F		M
Yemen	Almonds, with shell	130		130	F		M
World + (Total)	Almonds, with shell	2207308		2420189		2311682