STORY: U.S. pecan industry grapples with headwinds, pinning hopes on comeback to Chinese market
SHOOTING TIME: Oct. 24-25, 2024
DATELINE: Oct. 28, 2024
LENGTH: 0:02:50
LOCATION: Washington D.C.
CATEGORY: ECONOMY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of pecan harvesting
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): WILL EASTERLIN, Co-owner of Easterlin Pecan Company
3. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): BRAD ELLIS, Co-president of Ellis Bros. Pecans Inc.
4. SOUNDBITE 3 (English): MARY MIKELYN BRUORTON, Executive director of Georgia Pecan Growers Association
5. SOUNDBITE 4 (English): RANDY HUDSON, CEO of Hudson Pecan Company
6. SOUNDBITE 5 (English): BRAD ELLIS, Co-president of Ellis Bros. Pecans Inc.
7. SOUNDBITE 6 (English): WILL EASTERLIN, Co-owner of Easterlin Pecan Company

STORYLINE:

The U.S. growers, processors and traders of pecans are eager to return to the Chinese market, having faced lower prices and marginal profit, rising input costs, setbacks in overseas markets and a hit of hurricanes in recent years.

Before U.S.-China trade ties soured in 2018, China was the biggest overseas consumer of U.S. pecans.

SOUNDBITE 1 (English): WILL EASTERLIN, Co-owner of Easterlin Pecan Company
"Since the tariff, we've seen the prices go lower on U.S. pecans. At the same time, input costs because of inflation have gone up. So it's made it very difficult for the U.S. pecan farms to be profitable."

Industry insiders said low sales prices at the wholesale level and higher input costs have largely squeezed the profitability margin in the upstream businesses in recent years.

SOUNDBITE 2 (English): BRAD ELLIS, Co-president of Ellis Bros. Pecans Inc.
"That (inflation) is killing us on the production side because the price of fuel and labor is making it not profitable for the farmer to stay in business."

The recent hit from Hurricane Helene devastated pecan farmers in Georgia.

SOUNDBITE 3 (English): MARY MIKELYN BRUORTON, Executive director of Georgia Pecan Growers Association
"About 33 percent of our growers in the state of Georgia got affected by Helene. About 48,000 acres were affected. One major aspect of that and the devastation to that is it takes a country about 8 to 10 years to start producing."

Given the scale and readiness of the Chinese market, U.S. pecan business insiders shared a strong call for the comeback of the Chinese market in a bid to tackle current difficulties.

SOUNDBITE 4 (English): RANDY HUDSON, CEO of Hudson Pecan Company
"In most recent years, the tonnages that we ship to China have been significantly reduced. As a result of that, the United States has built up a surplus of pecans. And we would like to do anything we could do in any way we could to increase our exports of pecans back to China. China has always been a really good friend to the U.S. pecan producers, and we would really like to open those channels up back to China."

SOUNDBITE 5 (English): BRAD ELLIS, Co-president of Ellis Bros. Pecans Inc.
"I'm hoping they get all that resolved and get it back to where we can free trade and get the way the tariff is not a factor in it because it really hurts the pecan industry."

SOUNDBITE 6 (English): WILL EASTERLIN, Co-owner of Easterlin Pecan Company
"When we were able to have China in the market, it really helped the market a lot, helped the farmers expand their farms plant more. And now without the heavy trade to China, it's been very challenging on the farm. We would like to see relationships with China go back to a level where we can trade easily our U.S. agricultural products to China because they have a big consumer base."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Washington D.C.
(XHTV)