The United States Department of Agriculture’s National Agriculture Statistics Service released the July 2018 Cold storage report yesterday showing the current stocks of both in-shell and shelled pecans currently held in cold storage around the country. The numbers were a little surprising considering the trade war with one of the United States largest trading partners for pecans, China. With the newly imposed 47% tariff on US Pecans going into China many people expected much larger stocks of pecans, however that is not the case. Current stocks have risen but only slightly from the same time last year. Last year in July we had 55,313,000 lbs of shelled pecans in cold storage, and this July was reported at 65,379,000 lbs of shelled pecans in cold storage. In-shell pecans were even less with July 2017 cold storage report showing 85,068,000 lbs of in-shell pecans in cold storage as compared to July 2018 showing 89,449,000 lbs. The numbers shake out to an increase of 18% for shelled pecans in cold storage and an increase of only 5% for In-shell pecans in cold storage as compared to the same time last year. While shipments continue to be steady, we can attribute some of the increase to the uncertainty in the market with many buyers watching pecan prices to see if they will go down any further. The US and Mexico are both predicting good size crops this year, however with the South African crop coming up slightly off, and increased marketing activity by the US growers, most industry participants expect prices to increase slightly over the coming months.