Dried fruits production up 22 per cent in the past decade

Dried fruit production increased over the last decade, reaching 2.9 million tonnes in 2020-21, a 22 per cent above 2011-12, according to The Statistical Year Book 2020-21 brought out by INC (International Nut & Dried Fruit).

Dried grape production (raisins, Sultana and currants) accounted for 42 per cent of global production with total sales accounting for 35 per cent. The remaining 23 per cent was split into dried cranberries (seven per cent) dried apricots (six per cent), prunes and figs (five per cent) each.

Dried fruit exports totalled approximately 2.8 million tonnes in 2019, increasing at a steady rate of about 130,000 tonnes per year. On average, the overall consumption has risen by 80,000 tonnes per year.

J Rajmohan Pillai, Chairman, Beta Group, which owns the brand Nut King, pointed out that Covid-19 has boosted the global demand for dried fruit by 12 per cent because of the tendency of the people to spend on short term luxuries like expensive foods.

India is a major market for import of dried fruits and nuts, but the country could not become an exporter due to high domestic consumption.

Peanut output

China accounted for 37 per cent of the world peanut production in 2020-21 at over 47.5 million tonnes, with India accounting for 14 per cent. Nigeria (8 per cent), the US (six per cent), Senegal and Argentina (3 per cent each) were the next leading producers.

Continuing the positive trend observed in the past 10 years, peanut production has registered a seven per cent rise during 2020-21, says book.

INC Year Book -- which provides a review of tree nut, peanut and dried fruit production along with trade and consumption data over the last 10 years -- showed that the global demand is estimated at 42 million tonnes and has increased at an average rate of one million tonnes per year between 2010 and 2019. Shelled peanut exports reached 2.4 million tonnes in 2019 and grew by an average annual rate of 136,000 tonnes over the last decade.

INC data analysis also indicates that the total production of tea nuts (kernel basis, except pistachios in shell) has continuously risen in the last decade, reaching over 5.3 million tonnes in 2020-21 up by 65 per cent from 10 years ago. Last season’s largest crops were almonds with 31 per cent of the word’s share, followed by walnuts and pistachios (19 per cent each), cashews (16 per cent) and hazelnuts (10 per cent) respectively.

Tree nuts

Pecans, macadamias, Brazil nuts and pine nuts represented the remaining five per cent.

Tree nut exports (shelled with exceptions of in-shell pistachios) also reflected a positive trajectory with an average growth of 103,000 million tonnes, hitting over 2.9 million tonnes in 2019. Global consumption estimated at 4.6 million tonnes, showed an average annual growing trend of 181,000 million tonnes per year.

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