At the INC Pistachio Roundtable:Pistachio Kernels — Iran’s Trump Card in Foreign Markets
Iran Pistachio Association’s Behrooz Agah described at the roundtable:”Pistachio kernels are Iran’s trump card in foreign markets. Iranian pistachios, with a 100-year history, have — for the first time ever — gained widespread international momentum this year and are making robust sales worldwide.”
In the latest Iranian pistachio sales report, a table of the first seven months of the crop year indicates domestic consumption at 22,000 tons (10%), and exports at 147,000 tons (64%).
Home consumption throughout the entire crop season is forecast at 30,000 tons (13%), export at 180,000 tons (78%), and carry-over stock at the end of the year is forecast at 20,000 tons (9%).
The Iran Pistachio Association’s preliminary estimate puts Iran’s new crop at around 220,000 tons. It is estimated that some 40% of this amount will be round varieties (such as Fandoghi and Kallehghouchi), and the remaining 60% will be long varieties (such as Akbari, Ahmad Aghaei, and other long varieties). So, based on scattered damage by cold and heat in most areas, this is our rough estimate of the upcoming harvest.
The Far East, with a 26% share, was the largest export market for Iranian pistachios. The re-exporting markets were Turkey and the UAE, ranking as the second-largest market with a 26% share. Next was the Indian Subcontinent with a 19% share of exports, followed by the CIS countries, with 15%, the Middle East at 10%, and the European Union with 4%. Most of the exports to the EU were pistachio kernels and green peeled kernels.
Last year, when it was America’s off-year for high-pistachio production, we set a record with an overall 602,000 tons of pistachios exported around the globe. If this year is also an off-year for the pistachio crop of the United States and if one takes into account that Iranian production in the last few years has been at a level of approximately 200,000 tons, then we put the total pistachio export volume in the world at approximately 525,000 tons.
A comparative table of Iran and U.S. exports of pistachio kernels and naturally opened (smiling) in-shell pistachios for the first seven months of this crop year shows that U.S. exporters are now leading in the export of in-shell pistachios, while Iran still dominates the market of pistachio kernel exports.
Mia Cohen: “This is quite significant. Why is there this difference? Do you think that this trend will hold in coming years?”
Behrooz Agah: “One of the main reasons for which Iran has been more successful in the pistachio kernel market is that the return of Iranian pistachios is approximately 10% higher. This means that if Iranian and American in-shell pistachios are equal-priced, kernels from Iranian pistachios will be less costly to produce. Another factor this year has been the lack of American pistachio kernels. I don’t believe this will last forever. One day, countries like Turkey will also get involved in this race. Right now, the market can be considered a kind of cooperation between Iran and America, but this factor might change one day.”
The last chart shows the percentage share of Iranian and United States pistachio kernel and in-shell pistachio exports over the last 8 years, along with estimated current 12-month figures.
