Most buyers are in a ‘wait and see’ approach on almonds at the moment with California only a couple of weeks away from their bloom period. The market has remained relatively quiet throughout January with everyone anticipating both the January Shipment Report and bloom. Because of great winter rains and snowpack in California, a positive bloom is likely to have downward pressure on prices. The Australian harvest will commence this month and as previously noted, will start later than usual. Overall crop is expected to be 5,000mt up on last year and nut sizing slightly smaller.