<p></p><p>“In California, the price buyers are paying for almonds has risen 17 percent since June,” Ewing says. “That contrasts to about a 50-percent cumulative increase in price over the same period that European importers have been paying due to the stronger US dollar.”Following some ups and downs, kernel prices for California’s 2014 crop almonds in the second week of March where back to where they were during last year’s harvest – around $4 a pound. <br></p> <p>“Right now, the market is rather quiet,” says Paul Ewing of independent almond processor RPAC, LLC, based in Los Banos, Calif. “It’s a classic standoff between buyers and sellers.”After rising sharply in August following the start of the 2014 harvest, grower prices for new-crop almonds dipped in October. They began bouncing back up in January as three straight years of drought continued into the fourth and the industry faced the prospect of another year of reduced production. Recently, they’ve slipped about a dime a pound over the course of several weeks. Ewing attributes that to a slowing in buying interest and good weather at bloom, which would suggest the potential for higher yields this year.“The market is concerned about the uncertainty involving the impact of drought on future supplies, not just for this year, but beyond,” Ewing says. No small worry, since California growers produce about 80 percent of the world’s supply of almonds.<br></p><p></p>