The Market
The U.S. market for nuts and seeds consist of snack nuts, baking nuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, and corn nuts. Americans have had a love-hate relationship with nuts and seeds over the past decade, consuming less following negative health news and then eating more thanks to popular low-carbohydrate diets such as Atkins and South Beach. In recent years, Americans have swarmed toward nuts and seeds, as millions continue to participate in low-carbohydrate diets and the health news regarding these products has remained positive. In 2004, nuts and seeds accounted for 12.8% of U.S. manufacturers sales in the snack food market. In comparison, baked snacks and salted snacks each accounted for just under 44% of U.S. manufacturers sales that year. Business Trend Analysts anticipates that U.S. manufacturers sales of nuts and seeds will top the $4.0 billion mark in 2005. |