Australia remains the world's largest exporter of macadamias, accounting for 46 percent of total world exports. The United States, the world's second largest producer, is the largest individual export market for Australia, South Africa, Guatemala, Brazil and Costa Rica. In Hawaii, commercial macadamia nut orchards are planted with grafted seedlings. Generally, trees are most vulnerable for the first four years after the trees are established, after which the rows can grow together to form a continuous canopy that makes the trees less likely to suffer damage.
After that, the trees are likely to produce a small crop in the fifth year after planting and reach full production in 12 to 15 years. A good tree can produce a bulk amount of macadamia nuts for 40 years. Swiss Gourmet could only buy a few packages a year, so the joint venture was mutually closed and Privamnuts, now independent, could sell freely on the open market, with Swiss Gourmet as its first customer. The nut has a 1-inch diameter leathery case, containing a spherical nut or two hemispherical nuts.
Tran Quang Bảo, deputy director of the General Department of Forestry, said that under the plan, investment will be encouraged in macadamia processing facilities close to growing areas with the goal of building 300 to 400 new facilities with a capacity of 100 to 200 tons per year each by 2030, while the 65 existing facilities will be improved. The current Privamnut facility has a capacity to process around 7,000 metric tons of raw nuts per year. The Vietnamese Macadamia Association is requested to coordinate with the Ministry of Industry and Trade to research and forecast supply and demand in domestic and export markets in order to make appropriate adjustments in production. Once the nuts have been husked and shelled, around 1200 tons of exportable grains are obtained.
Swiss Gourmet roasted some of the nuts themselves, but sold the vast majority of the nuts to third parties. Macadamia nuts are rich in selenium, a valuable antioxidant that boosts the quality of blood flow, resistance to diseases and defends against inflammation. Some countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia also grow macadamia nuts, while the trees are found in California and Florida for the continental United States. Large-scale commercial macadamias products began in the 1880s in Hawaii, when Australian seeds were planted.
On the contrary, it is best to peel the nuts immediately and air dry them or take them to the processor the next day. According to experts, Vietnam has the potential to develop at least 200,000 hectares of macadamia trees and produce about 600,000 tons of whole macadamia nuts without shells. I knew that there were a lot of macadamia trees near where I was in Embu (about 130 km north of Nairobi), some of which were rotting. Since they have only limited resistance to heat, frost, wind, drought, fire and drainage, it can be difficult to find a viable sized agricultural block for macadamia trees.
One of the reasons walnuts are so expensive is because it takes at least three years for a tree to start producing nuts. In cases where the nuts have been picked and cannot be husked or delivered to the processor, the unshelled nuts should be dried by spreading them on a wire or grooved grid that is away from rain and exposed to direct sunlight.
