<p>Experiencing tremendous growth over the past five years, Blue Diamond Grower's retail products have reached nearly $500 million in annual sales revenues, according to Food Navigator.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Blue Diamond is the world's largest almond marketer and processor. The company has achieved a 16% compound annual growth rate over the last three years.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Sales for the 2013 fiscal year increased almost 19% to $1.2 billion and President and CEO Mark Jansen said sales are expected to be $1.5 billion for the 2014 fiscal year.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">"Branded retail now represents nearly $500 million of our annual sales," said Jansen. "The focus of our ingredient business has been to maintain segment leadership and grow the value-added manufactured (VAM) segment."<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">As interest in cow's milk is waning, Blue Diamond's Almond Breeze almond milk has a 40-50% sales growth year-on-year. While Blue Diamond has other products including Greek yogurt and roasted nuts, almond milk continues to make large gains in sales.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">"It just hit the mainstream. We've got some people switching from soy and obviously people that are avoiding dairy because they are allergic to milk or lactose intolerant, but a lot of the growth is coming from people living a healthy lifestyle," said Senior Marketing Manager Suzanne Hagener.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Future demand is expected to be constrained by supplies, and while it is too early to speculate about specific volumes, the Almond Board of California warned that water is the biggest concern right now for growers, who are facing a severe drought throughout most of the state.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Time will tell how this year's almond crop fares, but certainly Blue Diamond's products are flying off the shelves.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href="http://www.bluediamond.com/?navid=12" target="_new"> Blue Diamond Growers </a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
