shellers

Peanut farmers sign contracts with "shellers," who purchase raw nuts, remove the shells and sell the nuts to food companies.

Peanut Corp. Shutters Plant in Texas 2009

While China's appetite for pecans has been a windfall for growers, it poses a challenge for pecan shellers—the middlemen who separate nut from shell and then sell the insides to food companies, grocery stories and direct to consumers.

Shell Shock: Chinese Demand Reshapes U.S. Pecan Business David Wessel 2011

Adam and Abdul make all types of items, but they told me that their main products are anchors, which range from small to large (2000-5000/= or $26-65) and, chisels and coconut shellers.

Boing Boing 2009

For some shellers, the trouble is simply getting the nuts they need before the Chinese buy them.

Shell Shock: Chinese Demand Reshapes U.S. Pecan Business David Wessel 2011

Pecans traditionally made their way from U.S. and Mexican growers to the eight or so major shellers in the U.S. In good years, says Daniel Zedan, a long-time pecan broker in Wayne, Ill., the price paid for the nuts would fall and growers would complain "that the shellers had cheated them."

Shell Shock: Chinese Demand Reshapes U.S. Pecan Business David Wessel 2011

American shellers complained that selling so many premium pecans to China—the Chinese want the biggest, best nuts—would undermine both the domestic market and export markets in Europe.

Shell Shock: Chinese Demand Reshapes U.S. Pecan Business David Wessel 2011

But overall, growers and shellers kept each other in check.

Shell Shock: Chinese Demand Reshapes U.S. Pecan Business David Wessel 2011

Brandon Thibodeaux for The Wall Street Journal But when shellers held back, the Chinese went directly to growers.

Nuts for Pecans 2011

In bad years, growers would demand higher prices, "leading shellers to feel that they had been taken advantage of," he says.

Shell Shock: Chinese Demand Reshapes U.S. Pecan Business David Wessel 2011

Declining peanut sales due partly to the salmonella scare and a surplus from last year's bumper crop prompted shellers to curb their buying.

Peanut Corp. Shutters Plant in Texas 2009