Marketing in the news
I have always had a soft spot for California as I have, and still continue to go there on a regular basis to visit my family. My uncle lives on several hundred acres of land consisting of almond trees, which he farms to make a living. Past years have been very difficult to harvest and acquire a reasonable yield to make a profit due to droughts and the economy fluctuating.
California is an international leader in almond production supplying 82% of the worlds almonds and giving 104,000 people jobs. China's tariff on America's almonds is an unbelievable 50% while India follows between 17% and 20%. No one is freaking out about these tariffs currently as almond exports to China are at $549 million even after dropping nearly 1/3, current exports to India are at $650 million.
The value proposition from California growers to foreign buyers would be that California produces over 4/5ths the worlds almonds, and foreign buyers won't have much of a choice but to buy if the demand for almonds stays.
India plays a massive role in the almond board consisting of intense research, promotions and an incredible $6 million annual advertising budget. For America the almond industry must find some alternative agreements in other markets, which is way easier said than done. “It takes so long for us to build relationships to market our products,” said Sara Neagu-Reed, associate director of the California Farm Bureau Federation’s federal policy division.
Almond farmers face the possibility of not selling enough almonds to cover overhead cost and make a profit or maybe worse, have a surplus of almonds that no one wants to buy. To combat this farmers might have to get the short end of the stick and sell their crop at a lower price just to move product.
All of these farmers are going to have to get creative in upcoming years in order to combat this tariff nonsense whether its finding new alternative uses for almonds or accept lower prices. Farmers may also team up in making new connections into new markets to sell their crop at desired, or close too desired prices.
If I were product manager I would put heavy effort into informing my customers and potential customers with advertising on why we farm and why we are better than everyone else, such as not using chemicals everyone else does, organic growing and what not.
In this situation, they should definitely work on teaming up and finding more markets to sell to so they can be prepared for loss of export sooner rather than later. Other than them not getting into action, they have their heads pointed in the right direction. Getting everything in line and a plan of attack would be much wiser than selling for rock bottom prices.
The most interesting thing I learned in reading this article is that the Indian tariff on shelled versus in shell almonds is different. The fact over 100,000 people are employed in California strictly for almond industry is very impressive I also learned that China has given themselves a 50% tax on our almonds.
News link: here
Relevant link: Farm Bureau
If I were product manager I would put heavy effort into informing my customers and potential customers with advertising on why we farm and why we are better than everyone else, such as not using chemicals everyone else does, organic growing and what not.
In this situation, they should definitely work on teaming up and finding more markets to sell to so they can be prepared for loss of export sooner rather than later. Other than them not getting into action, they have their heads pointed in the right direction. Getting everything in line and a plan of attack would be much wiser than selling for rock bottom prices.
The most interesting thing I learned in reading this article is that the Indian tariff on shelled versus in shell almonds is different. The fact over 100,000 people are employed in California strictly for almond industry is very impressive I also learned that China has given themselves a 50% tax on our almonds.
News link: here
Relevant link: Farm Bureau
Other than not really understanding how "California produces over 4/5ths the worlds almonds, and foreign buyers won't have much of a choice but to buy if the demand for almonds stays," is a value proposition, I thought that this was a unique topic to look into. It's not really a value to teh customer that this is the only place where they can get almonds. If they're placing such high rates on tariffs, then it's not of value to them.
ReplyDeleteThe California Almond industry does need to look into new markets to combat any future disruptions in foreign markets.