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Sikhulekelani Moyo, Business Reporter
LISTED agro-industrial concern, Ariston Holdings Limited says demand for macadamia nuts has dropped since the outbreak of Covid-19, which led to the closure of the Chinese market to the world.
Ariston Holdings is a diversified agro-industrial concern listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange and has interests that span a variety of products including tea, macadamia, row crops, and poultry.
The operations of the tea growing units are fully integrated with the Blended Tea Factory (BTF) for value addition for tea.
China is the main export market for macadamia nuts from Australia, accounting for 36 percent of total exports. Because of the goods’ well-known health advantages, and information derived from traditional Chinese medicine, nuts are a significant element of the Chinese diet.
In a latest statement accompanying financial results for the year ended 30 September 2022, Ariston Holdings chairman Mr Alexander Jongwe said Covid-19 resulted in a reduction in the macadamia market size, as the product saw very low volumes finding their way into China.
“As a result of Covid-19 lockdowns, the Chinese market remained largely unavailable to the rest of the world resulting in an oversupply for the nut cracking market with a decline in average selling prices,” he said.
“Macadamia production volumes declined by 14 percent when compared to the prior comparative period from 1 292 tons to 1 106 tons.
“Generally, the yield achieved this year was lower than that for the prior comparative period although there was an overall improvement in quality.”
Due to the above effects, Mr Jongwe said the average selling price for the product declined by 21 percent when compared to the prior comparative average price.
According to Grand View Research, the global macadamia nut market size was valued at US$1,31 billion in 2020 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 10,7 percent from 2021 to 2028 following the growing public knowledge of the health advantages of nuts and dried fruits has been a key factor in the market expansion.
Ariston Holdings said regardless of the drop in demand for the product, significant investment was made into planting new macadamia orchards as they expected improvements in the macadamia market in 2024.
In 2018, Zimbabwe exported macadamia nuts worth US$15 million mainly to South Africa and China.
Meanwhile, Ariston Holdings said tea production volume in the year under review continued on an upward trajectory with a 15 percent increase to 3 158 tons from 2 748 tons in the prior comparative period.
“Improvements made through automation of certain production tasks released labour for harvesting resulting in improved production volumes.
“As previously communicated, the labour shortage is expected to persist in the future thereby necessitating continuous improvements and automation of processes,” said Mr Jongwe. -@SikhulekelaniM1
Online Reporter