Pistachios Industry Update September 2021

The pistachios market is doing quite well this season with plenty of export shipments driven by both China and Europe. It’s also great news for the United States domestic pistachios market as it experiences a second straight, record month. 

It’s not just the US market though, almost all major pistachio markets are doing well globally. Retail demand in both the US and European market continues to be strong.

United States & Europe

Recent high heat indicates a negative impact on the quality of Californian pistachio crop but it’s still too early to tell whether this is anything major. The current crop estimate is between 800 MM to 1,000 MM lbs. IPA's 2021 crop estimate stands at 150,000 MT/330 MM lbs. 

Harvest is expected to start sooner but adverse weather conditions may have an impact on the overall crop quality. This season, the United States is expected to have a harvest volume of 800 million – 1 billion lbs which is slightly less than the previous crop which was 1.042 billion lbs.

However, this shouldn’t be an indication of a dreary situation. Since COVID-19, the demand for pistachios and nuts in general have been low due to the closure of restaurants but this has picked up once more as countries lift restrictions.

Demand has been strong especially in the United States and Europe because consumers are increasingly looking for healthy foods and snacks. This has been a rising trend since the pandemic and this has definitely helped boost sales in the past few months as well as develop future potential for market growth.

Iran

Iranian shipments through July show a negative ending inventory which points to a larger crop than initially estimated at 190,000 MT. However, it is too early to tell what we could see and an accurate crop estimate will be provided in October after market closure. 

Spain

Spain has been fairing quite well this year. They will start harvesting towards the end of September and demand for pistachios is expected to increase dramatically due to the re-open of markets after COVID-19. 

A stable season has been seen so far and suppliers expect this continue. There has been no crop-disease or pest problems. There are no expected disruption of harvest either. Overall, it’s been a very good season for pistachios.

Total production in Spain will be around 3.000tons, 30% more than 1 year ago. Around 70% of the total volume will be organic.

Overall Outlook Of Industry

While it is too early to give any feedback on the quality of the harvest, as mentioned, Spain has been doing quite well. There has no information from the Iranian side yet but this will be rectified by October.

While the United States did experience some bad weather, this isn’t necessarily an indication on the decline of the quality of the pistachio nut. Of course, the size is expected to be smaller than last year but this will be covered by Spanish pistachio nuts.

More market updates on the quality and physical attributes will be provided once the harvesting season has ended. For now, it looks as though the pistachio market is seeing comeback as demand rises once more.