The South African Macadamia Grower’s Association (Samac) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the China National Industry Association’s (CSNC’s) specialised committee for nuts and roasted seeds to enhance cooperation in the nuts and roaster industries of the two countries.
Signed by Samac chairperson Walter Giuricich and CSNC senior VP Weng Yangyang, the MoU will allow the parties to exchange industry information and jointly promote products.
Last year, nuts and roasted seeds sales in China reached $19.5-billion, up 10% year-on-year, demonstrating the healthy growth of the industry.
Giuricich added that “many nut industries in the world have supplied more than 30% of their crop to China”, with the country buying around 40%, or 18 200 t, of South Africa’s 2015 macadamia output. This lowered to 36%, or 13 680 t, last year, owing to the drought.
“Looking forward, the global macadamia industry is expected to be back at full capacity by 2018 and [to] double in size by 2020. This massive growth will result in an industry which represents less than 2% of the international nut market, to grow to 4% in the next three to four years,” said Giuricich.