By Clint Thompson
Pecan exports need to continue to be diversified and spread out in as many countries as possible. It benefits Southeast growers not to have all of their exports in one place, says Anne Warden, CEO of the American Pecan Council and American Pecan Promotion Board.
Warden spoke about pecan marketing at last week’s Georgia Pecan Growers Association Conference and Trade Show.
“Pecans have been a beloved American classic for so long that the industry hasn’t really needed to evolve its export strategy,” Warden said.
“When China came in it got a big boon to the industry, but the thing we know about China is they’re a cost-conscious set of buyers; they’re going through their own economic troubles. If they can get it cheaper from another country they will. In order to deal with that lesson that we can’t focus on finding just the next China, but when we look at the political climate of today with tariffs that are happening, some of the good and some of the bad, the more countries that we can spread into, that helps stabilize the price for growers.”
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service, pecan exports to China reached 48.6 million pounds in 2023 but dropped to 24.2 million pounds in 2024. Exports to Mexico more than doubled from 13.2 million pounds in 2023 to 31.4 million pounds in 2024. Exports to the Netherlands almost doubled from 5.2 million pounds in 2023 to 10.2 million in 2024.
“Pecans really need to focus on building a diversified set of markets overseas. We’ve got a strong presence in China, but due to the tariffs, the competitors have been able to come in and eat away at that market. South Africa’s crop has gotten bigger,” Warden said. “It’s harder and harder for the U.S. to compete. We have a strong presence in Europe. They know pecans. They’re a nut-eating set of consumers. We’ve seen the most success in Europe by building out our presence in retail stores. A lot of times the issue is, consumers know a lot about pecans, but they don’t know where to find them. Building out the base of distribution in Europe has been our key focus there.”
Georgia pecan growers are hopeful India is that next export market they can rely on.
“India holds a ton of potential. They eat a lot of nuts. They’re 70% vegetarian society,” Warden said. “They eat a lot of almonds and walnuts and pistachios. They love pecans when we’ve introduced them there.”