<p></p><p>A report, published by Almonds Australia, shows that almonds are experiencing great success in the country. During the past five years, Australia's almond sales have increased 481 per cent and, according to the report, the nut had another stellar year from March 2015 to February 2016. <br></p> <p>During this time domestic almond sales increased 4 per cent, for a total of 22,905 tons, of which 21,208 tons were Australian almonds and 1707 tons were imported almonds.Over the past five years domestic almond sales have increased a whopping 46 per cent, with a lot of new almond products available. <br></p> <p>“The range of almond products and their versatile use, from in-shell to almond milk, saw almonds used in 297 new products appearing on Australian supermarket shelves in 2015,” the report said.“The Australian almond industry has come a very long way in a short period of time with massive increases in production since the planting boom of the mid-2000s. <br></p> <p>“In 2015, almonds’ gross value of production was more than 10 per cent of Australian horticulture’s GVP and the industry is undergoing a further period of orchard expansion.”In 2001, the total area in Australia planted to almonds was 5232ha. That number had increased to 31,115ha by last year. <br></p> <p>There are about 150 growers in Australia and 68 per cent have properties that are less than 50ha.The Sunraysia district is where the majority of Australia’s almonds are grown, home to 64 per cent of the plantations, followed by the Riverland in South Australia with 20 per cent, the Riverina in NSW with 12 per cent, the Swan Region in Western Australia with 2 per cent and Adelaide Plains in SA, also with 2 per cent. <br></p> <p>For every ton of almonds sold in Australia, nearly three tons are exported.Australia exports almonds to 50 countries and in 2015 they were valued at $739 million.</p> <p>Europe is Australia’s largest export market accounting for 40 per cent, while the Middle East accounts for 11 per cent.“India remained our largest export destination and free trade agreements with Japan, Korea and China assisted sales to these countries,” the report said. <br></p> <p>“With their dynamic economies and large populations of increasingly prosperous and health conscious consumers, Indian and Asian markets will continue to import more almonds well into the future.”<br></p><p></p>