You’ll Be Shelling Out More For Pecans This Year
October 15, 2010 | 1 min to read
Pecan prices are expected to approach record levels this fall, thanks to a slightly off year in production — down an estimated 20 million pounds or 7 percent from 2009 — and gargantuan demand from China.
The Chinese appetite for pecans exploded in 2007 when rising walnut prices made them a relative bargain, said Joe Peña, an agricultural economist with the Texas Agri-Life Extension Service. U.S. shipments to the world's most populous nation more than doubled to 25 million pounds, up from 9.2 million the year before.
A decade ago, there was hardly an American pecan on the Chinese market. Last year, U.S. shipments to China soared to 88.6 million pounds, up from 44 million pounds in 2008.
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