Agricultural firm Sasini is looking for new markets in Asia for macadamia nuts after demand in the US dried up, forcing it to close its processing plant in January last year.

Macadamia is among the emerging businesses for the Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed firm after the mainstay tea and coffee.

Sales of macadamia collapsed to Sh151.3 million in the year to September 2023 compared to Sh858.5 million a year earlier as inflation hurt consumers’ purchasing power in the single market Sasini has been depending on.

The sharp sales decline saw the macadamia division post a loss of Sh97.7 million in the review period.

“This was driven by a total collapse of demand in the USA due to inflationary pressure on consumer disposable income which resulted in slow movement of the global nuts sector,” the company says in its annual report.

“Whereas this demand is expected to come back in 2024, we will strengthen our USA trading of nuts by seeking new horizons to market our macadamia nuts in the Middle East and especially in Asia.”

The company added that it will seek to grow new markets to reduce its reliance on the traditional nuts market of the US as it gets ready for most of its new orchards that will go into production in the next 18 months.

Meanwhile, its macadamia nuts processing plant remains closed awaiting a lift in global demand for the commodity used as a snack, among other applications.

Macadamia prices Sasini realised dropped to Sh1,349 per kilo in the review period when it shipped only six containers.

This was down from Sh1,720 per kilo the year before when it exported 27containers of the nuts.