Almond prices rising, page-3

This article provides some concrete figures on the extent of the rise of the almond price in recent weeks.

It seems as if Select had carefully timed that recent capital raising to coincide with the latest surge in the almond price.

.....The price of Californian almonds has climbed by 10% over the last six to eight weeks to $10,500 a tonne, according to Giles Hacking, a London-based trader and vice president of the International Tree Nut Council.

"The prices are rising because concerns about crop size are bringing more buyers to market, but suppliers are holding back from sales. It has the effect of squeezing prices," he says.
Sanjoy Das, founder of Freeworld Trading in Edinburgh, says trade is at a standstill. "These are record high prices. The result will be very expensive [almonds] and a lack of almonds for the Christmas market."

Zetland says higher prices should be welcomed, if combined with tighter regulation of California's water management. He dismisses the idea that consumers should steer clear of Californian almonds, arguing that the only way to curb "unsustainable" supplies would be even higher prices.

"The problem is that California, because of its failed institutions for managing water, is allowing these almonds to come on market at $3-$4 a pound wholesale, when the price would be tripled if California was managing its water sustainably and farmers faced the real cost of water."

Alarm as almond farms consume California's water