IndexBox has just published a new report: ‘World – Chestnut – Market Analysis, Forecast, Size, Trends and Insights’. Here is a summary of the report’s key findings.

China remains an unrivaled leader in global chestnut consumption with a share of 81% of the total market. Chestnuts are widely used there in cooking, roasted with sugar, or for processing. The vast majority of chestnuts in China are produced domestically. Italy acts as the major importer of chestnuts worldwide, while Turkey, Portugal and France feature the highest pace of import growth. 

Consumption by Country

China (1.9M tonnes) remains the largest chestnut-consuming country worldwide, accounting for 81% of total volume. The majority of chestnuts in the country are sourced domestically – China also features as a top global chestnut producer. The volume of consumption in China exceeded the figures recorded by the second-largest consumer, Bolivia (89K tonnes), more than tenfold. The third position in this ranking was occupied by Turkey (61K tonnes), with a 2.7% share.

In China, chestnut consumption expanded at an average annual rate of +1.2% over the period from 2012-2020. In the other countries, the average annual rates were as follows: Bolivia (+5.2% per year) and Turkey (+1.9% per year).

In value terms, China ($4B) led the market, alone. The second position in the ranking was occupied by Bolivia ($259M). It was followed by Turkey.

Imports by Country

In 2020, the volume of chestnuts imported worldwide dropped to 93K tonnes, with a decrease of -13.9% against the previous year. In value terms, chestnut imports contracted to $250M (IndexBox estimates) in 2020.

Italy was the largest importing country with an import of about 24K tonnes, which resulted at 26% of total imports. France (7.7K tonnes) occupied an 8.3% share (based on tonnes) of total imports, which put it in second place, followed by Switzerland (5.9%) and Thailand (5.1%). Taiwan (Chinese) (3.8K tonnes), China (3.5K tonnes), Germany (3.5K tonnes), Turkey (3.2K tonnes), Spain (3K tonnes), the U.S. (2.8K tonnes), South Korea (2.6K tonnes), Austria (2.4K tonnes) and Portugal (2.2K tonnes) held a minor share of total imports.

Imports into Italy increased at an average annual rate of +4.1% from 2012 to 2020. At the same time, Turkey (+44.8%), Portugal (+7.8%), France (+6.4%), Germany (+4.5%), South Korea (+3.3%), Spain (+2.6%) and Taiwan (Chinese) (+1.3%) displayed positive paces of growth.

In value terms, Italy ($64M) constitutes the largest market for imported chestnuts worldwide, comprising 26% of global imports. The second position in the ranking was occupied by Germany ($18M), with a 7.1% share of global imports. It was followed by Switzerland, with a 6.3% share.

Source: IndexBox Platform