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Hawaii consumers may not have noticed it on supermarket shelves, but local macadamia nuts have been in short supply. Read more

Hawaii consumers may not have noticed it on supermarket shelves, but local macadamia nuts have been in short supply.

A super-short supply.

Production of mac nuts statewide fell to a dramatic 37-year low this past season, according to a federal report released last week.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture report said the reduction amounted to about 14 million pounds of nuts, or a 28% drop to 35.3 million pounds this past season ended June 30 compared with 49 million pounds produced a year earlier.

“There’s a real scarcity for them right now,” Steve Miller, a local candy-maker, said several months ago amid difficulties finding the pricey crop.

Local farmers and government officials said heavy rain last year in some mac nut-growing regions, particularly the east side of Hawaii island, flooded some orchards. Also contributing to losses was a tight labor supply that inhibited harvesting the crop, and trees destroyed by lava during the eruption of Kilauea in Puna.

Dan Springer, president of the Hawaii Macadamia Nut Association, said he knew industry production was taking a hit but didn’t know it would be as big as reported by USDA.

The last time Hawaii mac nut production was lower than last season’s level was 1982 when 33.4 million pounds were produced.

“I wouldn’t have expected it to be that low,” Springer said, adding that he suspects the figure could be exceedingly low because of some farms not communicating with USDA.

The report from the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service is produced with help from the state Department of Agriculture and is a final estimate based on surveys of farms.

According to the report, there were 17,100 acres planted with mac nut trees last season in Hawaii, down 5% from 18,000 acres the season before, yet farmers harvested nearly the same acreage: 16,900 acres compared with 17,000 acres.

Last season’s huge drop in production was due to yield per acre, which sank 28% to 2,100 pounds last season compared with 2,900 pounds the season before. The last time the yield per acre was 2,100 pounds was 1963, according to USDA records.

There was one bright spot for Hawaii mac nut farmers last season: The average price paid per pound hit a record $1.19, up from $1.10 the prior season.

Combining the price per pound with production volume put the value of last season’s crop at $42 million, down from a record $53.9 million the year before and equal to the value two seasons ago when the price per pound was $1.

While good for farmers, the record price per pound last season could mean consumers pay more for snacks and candies containing Hawaii mac nuts.

Springer said demand for Hawaii mac nuts, which includes buyers from outside the state, has heavily outstripped supply for the last three or four years. Despite this, there hasn’t been significant growth in farms because of factors that include high land prices, the labor shortage and a five-year wait for new trees to start producing nuts.

“Nothing new has been planted,” he said. “Supply has not kept up.”

Wink Ames of DWink Farms in North Kohala said one consultant he knows figures that 400,000 more mac nut trees in Hawaii are needed to satisfy demand.

“The demand has gone way up,” he said. “We can’t produce enough for the market.”