Just Peanuts?

Nº 03

Just Peanuts?

This is the third edition of World Peanut Magazine, and we are rather astonished to see how challenging the world has become for the peanut industry.

First came the Covid-19 pandemic, which forced lockdowns all over the globe, coercing entire populations to stay at home for months, thus leading to huge shifts in consumption patterns, with some products on the losing end while others were on the winning one. Happily, our beloved peanut was on the second one, as its consumption rose by double digits in several markets.

When the disease seemed to lose its severity, we all experienced the global disruptions in sea freights, with congested ports, huge delays in container loading and downloading, and longer transit times, you name it. The consequences? Freight rates increasing upto 3, 5, even 10 times, depending on the supply-demand situation for each route, adding another Covid challenge for the industry’s exporters and importers.

A couple of months ago, just when the sea freight situation seemed to be showing some light at the end of the tunnel, with the rates and schedule stabilizing, the war in Ukraine started…

Needless to say that with these three events, the peanut supply chain has been experiencing unprecedented stress. Clearly, Brazil has been the exporter most affected, but this may be just the tip of the iceberg, and besides peanuts, the

whole food industry is greatly impacted by the war, considering that Ukraine is responsible for 13% of world corn exports, 10% of world wheat exports and 47% of world sunflower oil exports. The absence of these food generates a major challenge for many countries to feed their populations.

So, given this scarcity of food, we wonder what role peanuts can play in this new environment? Are peanuts just peanuts? Or maybe their great potential can provide a replacement for other missing commodities, reducing global stocks and affecting the market through the current crisis?

Just a thought: are peanuts just peanuts?

In this issue, we consider the impact of the war on the peanut sector, particularly the situation in Brazil, the main exporter to Russia and Ukraine. In the Science and Technology section, we continue to look at the genetic resources for peanut breeding, with a focus on SNPs. As far as farming is concerned, we consider the importance of soil types for peanut production and remember a great botanist who dedicated his life to studying peanuts: Antonio Krapovickas. We also consider the benefits of peanut consumption to the cognitive function and, last but not least, the cleaning process as a fundamental step within peanut processing.

04

_ Market Trends

This section of the wpm deals with the dynamics of the demand and supply of peanuts in the international markets. We will try to keep track of the changes in peanut consumption in the main areas of the world, the factors that can affect production, and the price shifts of the various peanut products.

_ Industrial Processing

This area of the magazine focuses on shellers as well as companies transforming peanuts into consumer products. We will focus on current industry standards, quality issues, new technologies and the different industrial solutions adopted by producing countries. A special section will be dedicated to new products and tools for peanut processing developed by the best manufacturers.

_ Science and Technology

The activities of the universities and other research institutes engaged in scientific research on peanuts are of paramount importance for the future of the business. We will follow the main discoveries, from the latest issues concerning peanut genetics to the development of projects on pathogens or the impact of peanut consumption on human health. The consequences of scientific research on the future of the industry are hard to overstate, so we will be putting them in perspective in order to try to understand where the sector is heading in the long term.

05

_ Laws and Regulations

The Laws and Regulations section of World Peanut Magazine analyses the impact of new legislation and regulations affecting the production and trade of peanuts. The main issues treated in this section are governmental measures directly affecting international trade (such as the introduction of tariffs or quotas), health safety issues (such as the establishment of Maximum Residue Limits for certain substances) but also legislation impacting distribution, packaging and sales.

_ Peanut as a Superfood

This section offers peanut professionals news and insights into the world of peanut consumption and all its aspects. Typical news is related to findings concerning the nutritional values of peanuts, the impact of peanut consumption on human health, and the development of peanut-based food.

_ Peanut Farming

The primary production is where the peanut business starts, of course, so we will have a dedicated section for all events, activities, techniques and equipment related to growing peanuts in different parts of the world. The general idea is to bring farming in the producing countries closer to all peanut professionals so that they can have a better grasp of the business from a grower’s perspective and maybe on what the future of peanut farming may look like.