US Pistachio Growers Have Big Markets

Pistachio Growers in California as well as Arizona are the main suppliers around the world. Western Europe is a strong importer of US pistachios and they are gaining a major foothold in the Middle East, and Africa.

Richard Matoian is executive director of American Pistachio Growers explains the strong market for US Pistachios---especially China

“Our number one market for the last 10 years has been China. They overtook Western Europe as our number one marketplace,” Matoian said. ‘There has been phenomenal growth in China for US pistachios, and each and every year with the exception of one or two years when we had very small crops to sell---China has made the US a preferred buyer of the product.”

However, the US growers do compete head to head with Iran for the China marketplace. “China in the past has been price sensitive, but I think now that they recognize the value and the quality of American grown pistachios,” Matoian noted. “They have preferred our product because they're looking for a quality and a consistent product that is high in food safety.

However, Matoian said the Iranian growers still have a market here and there.

“Certainly there are buyers in any number of categories, some that are still very price conscious, but we have other buyers that are very quality conscious and with the quality of what we grow here in the US, we have some very dedicated buyers for our product,” he said.