Despite reports that ocean carriers have been rebuffing containers carrying California’s agricultural exports, tree nut exporters in California enjoyed robust export trade in December. The California Almond Board reported a 32.1 percent year-over-year jump in overseas shipments of almonds, the state’s leading agricultural export.

Similarly, the California Walnut Board reported a 22.6 percent bump in December from the same month one year earlier. Likewise, pistachio exports in December were at the highest level in the past four years, up more than 126 percent from one year earlier. Tree nut exports through the Port of Oakland were up 36.4 percent from December 2019.

The U.S. Census Bureau numbers were consistent with reports from the state’s three major seaports that show containerized exports in December were down just 1 percent from the same month one year earlier. However, export tonnage from Los Angeles International Airport in that month was up by 14.43 percent from one year earlier. Airborne shipments account for nearly half of all California’s merchandise export trade.