Australia’s almond industry is the second largest in the world and currently exports 65% of its 80,000 tons annual crop, but has always been excluded from the A$160 million South Korean almond market because of high tariffs. The coming free trade agreement between the two countries will see an end to tariffs on Australian tree nuts which should increase Australian nut exports from a value of A$600 million in 2014 to A$1 billion by 2020 and is leading the Almond Board of Australia to send a trade delegation to South Korea in November and the Australian Macadamia Society to increase its promotional activity beginning in 2015. The elimination of tariffs will have a positive effect on all Australian tree nut industries – almond, chestnut, macadamia, pecan, pistachio, walnut, and hazelnut which is expected to see production increase 100 fold over the next seven years upon the completion of a large-scale hazelnut development.
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