Reviewed September 2026 against FAO/USDA production data, Eurostat, and Tridge Market Intelligence.

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Top Almond Producing Countries: Which Nation Leads Global Supply

The United States is the world’s largest almond producer by a wide margin, harvesting 2,002,742 tonnes in 2023 according to FAO/USDA data compiled by AtlasBig — more than six times the output of Spain, the number-two producer at 321,810 tonnes the same year, per Eurostat. Iran (147,863 tonnes), Turkey (85,000 tonnes), and Italy (72,470 tonnes) round out the next tier. Almost all of that U.S. volume comes from California’s Central Valley, and that concentration is the single fact that explains almond price swings, export patterns, and supply risk worldwide.

This article answers the country-ranking and producer questions directly, then goes further than a summary can: it names the actual companies operating at each tier, gives current export and retail pricing, and includes a calculator so you can estimate an orchard’s water cost at your own acreage and rate — not a generic industry average.

Global Almond Industry Overview: Landscape, Demand & Key Regions

Almonds (Prunus dulcis) grow best in Mediterranean climates — hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters — which is why production clusters so tightly into a handful of regions: California’s Central Valley, Spain’s Valencia and Andalusia, and irrigated zones of Iran, Turkey, and Italy. That climate dependency is also why almond production by country is so lopsided compared with, say, wheat or maize: the crop simply cannot be grown at scale outside a narrow band of conditions.

• ✔ Top Producers (2023, FAO/USDA and Eurostat): United States, Spain, Iran, Turkey, Italy
• 📊 Combined Top-5 Volume: 2,629,385 tonnes across the USA, Spain, Iran, Turkey, and Italy in 2023
• 💵 Export Pricing: U.S. in-shell almond exports averaged $5,323 per tonne in May 2025, per Tridge Market Intelligence
• 🛒 U.S. Retail Pricing: $7.14 per kilogram at U.S. retail in August 2026, per Selina Wamucii
• ⚠ Challenges: Water availability, orchard establishment cost, and climate variability in growing regions

A note on how to read these numbers over time: FAO production figures and Eurostat’s European breakdowns are both annual series, typically published with a lag of one to two years. The 2023 figures cited throughout this article are the most recent complete-year figures available in the FAO/Eurostat compilations used here. When you need a more current year, go directly to the source rather than trusting a repost — see the refresh guidance in each section below.

Almond Production Companies & Almond Production by Country: Global Leaders

“Almond producer” and “almond production companies” are two different questions people search — one about countries, one about the businesses growing and processing the crop. Here’s both, country by country.

1. United States (California): The World’s Dominant Almond Producer

The United States produced 2,002,742 tonnes of almonds in 2023, per FAO/USDA data compiled by AtlasBig — the largest national total in the world by a wide margin. Nearly all of it comes from California, where USDA NASS recorded a record 3.0 billion pounds (roughly 1.36 million tonnes) of production in the 2020 crop year. Because California accounts for the overwhelming majority of U.S. output, “largest almond producing country” and “California almond industry” are effectively the same story.

Named almond production companies in the U.S. operating at commercial scale include Blue Diamond Growers (a grower-owned cooperative marketing cooperative), Wonderful Pistachios & Almonds, and other Central Valley processors and handlers who buy from grower orchards, hull, shell, and export. If you need current company-level market share, USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) publishes the underlying acreage and production data by county, though it does not break out sales by individual company — company market share is proprietary and not part of the public USDA release.

• ✔ Key Regions: Central Valley — Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys
• 📊 Record Year: 3.0 billion pounds in the 2020 crop year, per USDA NASS California statistics
• 💵 Export Pricing: $5,323 per tonne for U.S. in-shell almond exports as of May 2025, per Tridge

2. Spain: The Largest Almond Producer in Europe

Spain produced 321,810 tonnes of almonds in 2023, according to Eurostat — making it both the second-largest producer globally and the largest in Europe by a wide margin over the next EU producer. Spanish cultivation concentrates in Valencia, Andalusia, and Catalonia, regions that share the same Mediterranean climate profile that makes California productive, but with generally smaller, more fragmented orchards than the corporate-scale operations in the Central Valley.

• ✔ 2023 Output: 321,810 tonnes, per Eurostat
• 🌱 Growing Regions: Valencia, Andalusia, Catalonia
• 🔄 Export Markets: Primarily other EU member states, with a growing share to Asian buyers

3. Iran: A Major Middle East Producer

Iran produced 147,863 tonnes of almonds in 2023, per FAO data, placing it third globally and the largest producer in the Middle East. Iranian output is concentrated in Isfahan, Fars, and Kerman provinces, where orchards rely heavily on irrigation drawn from a water-scarce region — a constraint that shapes both current yields and the country’s ability to expand acreage.

• ✔ 2023 Output: 147,863 tonnes, per FAO
• 📍 Growing Regions: Isfahan, Fars, Kerman

4. Turkey and Italy: The Next Tier of Producers

Turkey produced 85,000 tonnes of almonds in 2023, per FAO data, while Italy — the second-largest EU producer behind Spain — recorded 72,470 tonnes the same year, per Eurostat. Neither country approaches the scale of the top three, but both are established, named entries in every major almond production by country ranking, and both supply regional EU and Mediterranean demand rather than competing directly in the U.S. export market.

• ✔ Turkey: 85,000 tonnes in 2023, per FAO
• ✔ Italy: 72,470 tonnes in 2023, per Eurostat — the second-largest EU producer after Spain

Trends Shaping Global Almond Production

1. Water Management and Precision Irrigation

Water is the binding constraint on almond production in every major growing region named above — California’s Central Valley, Spain’s Valencia and Andalusia, and Iran’s Isfahan, Fars, and Kerman provinces are all classified as water-stressed to some degree. That is why drip irrigation, soil-moisture sensors, and satellite-based scheduling have moved from optional to standard practice among commercial growers.

2. Climate Adaptation and Integrated Pest Management

• 🔬 Cultivar Breeding: Growers are selecting rootstocks and varieties for heat tolerance, shorter winter chill requirements, and disease resistance.
• 🦟 Pest Pressure: Navel orangeworm remains the primary pest concern in California orchards; biological controls and reduced-chemical IPM programs are the standard response.

3. Processing, By-Products, and Value-Added Almond Products

• ⚙️ Post-Harvest Processing: Laser sorting and automated shelling reduce contamination and improve consistency for export-grade lots.
• 🟤 Shell and Hull Use: Almond shells and hulls are increasingly directed to biomass energy and packaging applications rather than discarded.
• 🥧 Retail Products: Almond milk, almond flour, and snack-format almonds sell at a premium to raw kernels — a U.S. retail almond price of $7.14 per kilogram was recorded in August 2026, per Selina Wamucii.

4. Traceability and Carbon Accounting

Buyers in the EU and North America increasingly ask for documented origin and carbon data alongside a sustainability claim, not instead of one. Digital traceability tools give exporters a way to substantiate those claims rather than assert them.

Interested in tracking almond farming carbon footprints? Explore the Farmonaut Carbon Footprinting platform.

5. Technology Adoption: Satellite Monitoring in Almond Orchards

For crop monitoring, yield forecasting, and resource management, satellite-based platforms have become part of standard orchard operations for growers who need to cover thousands of acres without walking every row.

Access Farmonaut’s Satellite Agriculture Platform: Real-time crop health, irrigation patterns, and disease risk advisory — via browser, Android, or iOS apps.

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• 🛰️ Remote Sensing: Multispectral imaging for field scouting, pest detection, and drought stress
• 🔗 Traceability: Digital records supporting origin and sustainability claims for exporters
• 📈 Yield Forecasting: Estimation ahead of harvest for logistics and contract planning

Farmonaut: Satellite Technology Driving Sustainable Almond Agriculture

At Farmonaut, we build tools for the operational side of the questions this article covers — not just which countries produce the most almonds, but how an individual orchard manager tracks water use, crop health, and compliance day to day.

• ✔ Satellite Monitoring: Real-time crop health tracking for farms of any size.
• 📊 AI-Based Advisory: Our Jeevn AI system delivers irrigation and pest management guidance tailored to almond orchards.
• 🔗 Blockchain Traceability: We help almond producers and exporters document product origin with blockchain-based traceability.
• ⚠ Environmental Monitoring: Field-level carbon and resource-use tracking to support compliance and buyer requirements.
• 🔍 Loan & Insurance Verification: We support financial institutions with satellite-based crop verification for loans and insurance.

Insights: Almond Markets, Trade, and Economic Impact

Pricing: Export and Retail

Two price points anchor the current almond market. U.S. in-shell almond exports averaged $5,323 per tonne as of May 2025, according to Tridge Market Intelligence, which updates its almond pricing feed daily. Separately, U.S. retail almond prices reached $7.14 per kilogram in August 2026, per Selina Wamucii. The gap between those two figures — roughly $5.32 per kilogram at export versus $7.14 at retail — reflects processing, distribution, and retail margin layered on top of the raw export price, not a discrepancy in the data.

Production Scale by Country: The Comparison an AI Summary Won’t Give You

Ranking lists online often cite different base years or mix metric tons with short tons without saying so. Here is the 2023 FAO/USDA and Eurostat data set used throughout this article, with each figure traceable to its source.

Key Challenges & Future Prospects in Almond Production

• ⚠ Water Availability: The dominant long-term constraint in California, Spain, and Iran alike; expanded adoption of precision irrigation is the primary mitigation named by growers and agencies in each region.
• 🔬 Pest & Disease Pressure: Navel orangeworm and fungal disease require ongoing IPM investment across all major producing regions.
• 📜 Traceability & Buyer Requirements: EU and North American buyers increasingly require documented sustainability data, not just a claim.
• 🔎 Supply Concentration Risk: Because the U.S. alone accounts for roughly two-thirds of the top-five countries’ combined 2023 output, a single bad California water year has an outsized effect on global almond prices — a concentration risk with no close parallel in most other tree-nut markets.

Almond Orchard Water-Cost Calculator

Water is the largest variable cost almond growers manage, and it scales directly with acreage, application rate, and local water price — three inputs no industry-average figure can capture for your specific block. Enter your own numbers below to estimate a season’s water cost.

Assumptions: default values (3.5 acre-feet/acre, $250/acre-foot, 2,200 lb/acre) are illustrative starting points, not regional averages — enter your own district’s water price and your orchard’s actual application rate and yield. The calculator excludes labor, fertilizer, pest management, and land costs, and does not account for deficit-irrigation strategies that intentionally apply less than full crop water demand.

Top Almond Producing Countries Comparison Table

The table below lists confirmed 2023 production figures from FAO/USDA (via AtlasBig) and Eurostat — the most complete recent-year data set available across sources for this article. Where a country’s more current figure exists, follow the refresh path noted beneath the table.

How to get a more current figure: FAO’s global production database and Eurostat’s agricultural production releases (under “Agriculture” > “Production” at the Eurostat site) both publish annual updates, typically with the following year’s complete figures released in the second quarter of the year after — so 2024 figures generally become available in Q2 2025, and so on. Check AtlasBig’s almond production rankings for the latest FAO-sourced compilation, or go directly to Eurostat for EU member state detail.

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Check out the Farmonaut API platform: https://sat.farmonaut.com/api
For technical setup, refer to Farmonaut API Developer Docs.

FAQs: Global Almond Production, Almond Producing Countries & Industry Trends

Resources & Application Links for Almond Producers

Farmonaut’s satellite-driven solutions support large-scale almond plantation management, environmental monitoring, loan and insurance verification, fleet and resource logistics, and product traceability. See details at Fleet Management | Crop Plantation and Forest Advisory

Conclusion: Almond Production Leaders and What Would Change the Ranking

Based on 2023 FAO/USDA and Eurostat data, the United States leads global almond production at 2,002,742 tonnes, followed by Spain (321,810 t), Iran (147,863 t), Turkey (85,000 t), and Italy (72,470 t). That ranking has been stable for years because it rests on decades of accumulated orchard infrastructure, not on a single season’s weather — the thing most likely to move it is a sustained, multi-year water crisis in California, since the U.S. share of top-five output is large enough that a serious contraction there would be visible in global figures within one to two harvest cycles.

For a reader who needs to verify or update any figure in this article: FAO’s global production database and Eurostat’s agricultural statistics are both public and updated annually, USDA NASS publishes California-specific acreage and volume data, and Tridge tracks almond export pricing daily. Those four sources, checked directly, will keep this article’s numbers current long after any single year’s figures here have aged.

With Farmonaut’s satellite and AI-driven monitoring tools, almond producers can track orchard-level water use, crop health, and compliance data directly — turning the country-level trends described above into decisions on an individual grower’s own acreage.