Groundnuts: Characteristics
Runner, Virginia or Bold: how type and size set price
What this tab covers The supply and physical characteristics of the commodity. Supply: current production, inventories and stocks, capacity utilisation, geographic and producer concentration, how fast supply responds to price, the project pipeline and capital spending, and logistics and export flows. Material: the physical and chemical properties that set its grade, price and end uses (for example purity and conductivity for metals, API gravity, sulfur and energy content for fuels, moisture, protein and fibre quality for crops).Supply volume characteristics
| Characteristic | Figure | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current production volume | about 57.6 Mt in-shell (FAOSTAT 2024); 50.1 Mt forecast for 2026/27 (USDA basis) | China (34%) and India (21%) grow over half. India produced 13.07 Mt in 2025-26 (3rd advance estimate), 43.6% of it in Gujarat in 2024-25. | FAOSTAT 2024; USDA PSD; Ministry of Agriculture |
| Inventory and stock levels | world ending stocks 4.1 Mt forecast for 2026/27, 8.1% of use, about 30 days | Groundnuts are semi-perishable, so stocks sit with shellers and food makers. The US held 1.45 Mt at end-2025/26. India has no buffer norm; NAFED buys at MSP (Rs 7,263/quintal in 2025-26) when prices fall. USDA puts India's stocks at about 0.4 Mt. | USDA PSD; content of this tile |
| Capacity utilisation | not published | Indian shelling and crushing in Saurashtra is fragmented across many small units. Crush varies with the crop and export demand: 38.9% of world use was crushed in 2025/26. | USDA PSD |
| Geographic and producer concentration | top country China 34.1%, top-3 (China, India, Nigeria) 62.3%, HHI 1,725 (2024); exports: Argentina 22.7%, top-3 60.2% of value | Argentina, India and the US lead exports; China, the Netherlands and Indonesia lead imports. Olam/ofi, Golden Peanut (ADM), Birdsong and Shandong Luhua are large shellers and processors. | FAOSTAT 2024; UN Comtrade 2024 |
| Supply elasticity | short-run moderate: annual crop, but mostly rain-fed in India and Africa | In India output depends on the monsoon more than price: 87% of the crop is kharif. Farmers in Gujarat switch between groundnut and cotton. | Ministry of Agriculture; USDA |
| Project pipeline and CapEx | no capacity projects tracked | India's crop rose from 11.94 Mt (2024-25) to 13.07 Mt (2025-26). Growth comes from yields and high-oleic varieties rather than new plants. | Ministry of Agriculture |
| Logistics and export flows | small traded share: Argentina exported about 1.15 Mt and India about 1.0 Mt; world exports worth $3.9 bn (2024) | Routes: Cordoba to Rosario and Europe; Saurashtra to Mundra and Kandla for Indonesia, Vietnam and China; US to the EU and Mexico. Aflatoxin rejections at EU borders are the main bottleneck. | UN Comtrade 2024; content of this tile |
Material characteristics Agricultural / soft commodity
Groundnuts are sold as in-shell nuts, kernels for food, or crushing stock. Kernel size (count per ounce), type (Runner, Virginia, Spanish, Indian Bold and Java) and aflatoxin level set price and market access. Oil content matters for crushing, and high-oleic varieties give longer shelf life for snacks and peanut butter.
| Property | Value / specification | Why it matters | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aflatoxin | EU: at most 4 micrograms/kg total (2 for B1) for direct consumption; Codex: 15 micrograms/kg total for peanuts for further processing | Lots that fail are rejected at the border or diverted to crushing | EU Regulation 2023/915; Codex CXS 193-1995 |
| Kernel count | e.g. Indian Bold 38/42 or 40/50, Java 50/60 or 60/70 kernels per ounce | Size grade sets price and end use | APEDA / trade specs (indicative) |
| Moisture | about 7-8% maximum for kernels | Wet nuts grow Aspergillus mould, which makes aflatoxin | trade specs (indicative) |
| Oil content | about 45-50% of kernel; world crush oil yield 32.6% of in-shell weight | Sets crushing value | USDA PSD derived |
| Oleic/linoleic ratio | high-oleic varieties about 75-80% oleic | Slows rancidity in snacks and peanut butter | breeding literature (indicative) |
| Foreign matter and damaged kernels | set by buyer contract and US/APEDA grades | Affects sorting cost and food safety | USDA FGIS; APEDA (indicative) |