Shipments grow 58.6 per cent in the year to March 2026, reaching US$644.4mn
Chile exported US$644.4mn of walnuts between April 2025 and March 2026, according to industry association ChileNut. This represents an increase of 58.6 per cent on the previous year.
More than 95 per cent of Chile’s walnut production is exported to markets including India, Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America amongst others. According to data from ExpoNut, approximately 50 per cent of Chilean walnuts are sold in the shell, while 45 per cent are sold shelled. The reported average yield is 46.5kg of kernel for every 100kg of in-shell walnuts.
Macarena Pons, manager of ChileNut, said the sector’s performance should be measured by more than just the volume traded. “We cannot be content with measuring our success by the tonnes we produce or the markets we reach. We must ask ourselves how much value we are generating and how profitable the business is for our producers,” she noted.
The growth in shipments presents a new challenge for the walnut industry: identifying which segments of the market offer the best returns and determining how to sustain them over time. The conversation is no longer limited to how much Chile can export; it now also encompasses which attributes each market values and how much of that value ultimately reaches the producer, ChileNut said.
Fruit quality is a key factor in this equation. The colour, condition, and kernel yield influence commercial prospects, while production costs and climatic conditions affect the outcomes of each season, ChileNut noted.
Competitiveness also depends on orchard productivity and the ability to tailor supply to buyers’ requirements. For an industry that sells nearly its entire output abroad, shifts in international demand can directly impact prices and margins. Consequently, production efficiency and cost control become central to the decisions made by producers and exporters.
