San Francisco: Buoyed by record production, California walnuts, accounting for 99 percent of commercial US supply and 71 percent of world trade, is confident of making its presence felt in India as the message of quality and health benefits of the healthy nut spreads, officials say.
"Shipments of California walnuts to India for the 2013-14 crop year, our first year with market access, was about 310,000 in-shell pounds and 42,000 pounds of kernels," Assistant Marketing Director, International, of California Walnut Commission (CWC) Jennifer Williams said.
Last year, the 2014-15 crop year saw shipment increase quite a bit with 5.2 million pounds of inshell walnuts going to India and 84,500 pounds of kernels.
"We feel the India market will continue to grow as the message of California quality spreads and the health messages continue gain popularity," she said.
In 2013, India allowed import of walnuts from the US.
"Inshell exports of walnut to India have been significant," CWC's Senior Marketing Director, International, Michelle McNeil said. At the same time, she said exports of shelled walnut to India was still small but had long term potential.
Walnuts are a semi-fresh food, meaning that with proper storage and handling walnuts are good to eat for up to one calendar year, she said.
She said the CWC's efforts are to make available to Indian consumers good quality California walnuts round-the- year.
McNeil said the CWC was confident that the Indian bakery, confectionery and ice cream industries would readily accept Californian walnuts which were produced, processed and packed in state-of-the-art facilities.
"We are excited about the possibilities in India regarding California walnuts," John Mundt, owner of Alpine Pacific Nut Co., Inc., one of the top American walnut producer and processor, said.
"We feel India has a lot of untapped potential with regards to the population size as well as the desire for people to start eating what is considered a healthy diet/life style," Mundt said.
"We are hoping to double our volume this year may be to 30 container loads," he said.
Walnuts are an ideal complement to the traditional vegetarian based diet because they contain alpha-linolenic acid/omega-3 fatty acid which is currently deficient in the Indian diet, Carol Berg Sloan, Nutrition Consultant to CWC said.
India's increasingly affluent middle class, currently estimated over 250 million, is expected to reach 400 million by 2020. Unlike other developing nations, over 30 percent of middle class income is spent on food and beverages, CWC officials said.
The 2015 walnut crop is estimated to be 575,000 short tonnes, the estimate represents an increase of approximately one percent of last year's record crop of 570,000 short tonnes, according to latest CWC forecast.
The California walnut industry is made up of more than 4,000 walnut growers and 93 walnut processors.
California has approximately 300,000 walnut bearing acres and experts say walnut trees bear fruit 5 to 7 years after planting and can produce walnuts for as long as a century.
The Central Valley, one of California's most diverse and richly fertile regions of the state, is home to most of the walnut orchards.
There are more than 30 varieties of commercially produced walnuts, all hybrids of the English or Persian walnut.
Varieties are developed for various characteristics; such as early harvest, late harvest; thick shell, thin shell; high walnut meat content; pest tolerance, etc.
California walnuts account for 99 percent of the commercial US supply and 71 percent of world trade, according to CWC figures.
Approximately 35 percent of walnut exports are shelled and 65 percent are exported in-shell. In the US market, approximately 95 percent of shipments are shelled walnuts, while only 5 percent remain inshell, CWC officials said.
