The pecan industry received more good news after a rough season in the US, this year with demand for pecans continuing to soar.

The pecan industry in the US took a hit this year with natural disasters and the trade war that all but shut down pecan trade with China. While much of the news this year has been less than inspiring, pecan growers with pecans still in storage may be singing all the way to the bank before the year over. The APC released its January monthly pecan position report with data collected from the US and to date the numbers look quite encouraging.

Currently the according to the USDA Pecan Cold Storage Report there are just under 195 million pounds of pecans in cold storage (194,915,000 converted to in-shell as of Dec 18’).

While the cold storage numbers are only reported through December, we fully expect the numbers to increase through February as in the past years. However the last time pecan cold storage holdings surpassed 300 million pounds was in 2014. The US pecan industry has committed to ship just over 588 million pounds (converted to in-shell) with only 123 million pounds of that total already shipped, leaving a deficit of just over 465 million pounds (converted to in-shell) still left to ship. The numbers are quite encouraging considering that most pecan growers in the US have been storing pecans waiting for prices to improve. While shellers are bringing in pecans from Mexico at record numbers, many industry professionals say, it may not be enough. With demand for pecans continuing to increase, the pecan supply may come up short this year.