Video: Next Steps for Nuts in “The Big Shrink”

Key Takeaways:

• Over the past three decades, U.S. nut growers have been widely successful due to exceptional growth in export markets.
• More than 70% of U.S. almonds, walnuts, pistachios and pecans ship to other countries.
• Sunny Toor, who has helped develop business relationships in export markets around the globe, weighs in on what could be next for U.S. nuts, given his experience and what the research in “The Big Shrink” tells us about slowing population growth.

In the face of a shrinking population in coming decades, the tree nut industry has a runway to maintain consistent or growing demand, say Terrain analysts Matt Woolf, Ph.D., and Matt Clark in a new report that’s part of “The Big Shrink” series.

That runway is built on the solid ground the industry has molded already. As explained in the report, “A Nut Worth Cracking: Assessing Demographic Change for the Nut Market,” a stable of strong, diverse export partners and a history of innovation lay the blueprint for what can carry the industry through the challenge of a shrinking population.

Sunny Toor, CEO of Valley Pride Ag, joined Matt Woolf to talk about his experience with building some of those global buying relationships for U.S. nuts—and where he sees opportunity given the outlook in “The Big Shrink.”

Valley Pride Ag is a supply chain management company. In his 27 years in the industry, Sunny has traveled around the globe facilitating business relationships with foreign buyers of U.S. almonds, pistachios, walnuts and pecans.

In the video, he describes what it’s like to meet with potential buyers. There’s a difference between starting a relationship and building a business relationship that gets to the point of shipping product to that buyer—that’s where the expertise of companies like his comes in.

Who’s buying U.S. product is always evolving. Sunny discusses the demand shift away from Europe toward Asia. He also describes how the set of buyers within China has shifted. Ten to 15 years ago, he explains, the buyers were mostly traders. Now, nuts are shipping to buyers further in the supply chain – roasters and retailers.