There's Still Great Demand for California (and Western States) Pistachios
Richard Matoian is executive director of American Pistachio Growers.
“I think a lot of it has to do with worldwide supply. Pistachios supplies have remained level and at the same time, demand has continued to grow. So when you have such strong demand and yet have a flat production or supply available, price is going to naturally increase,” said Matoian “And that's what we've seen with our commodity. We're just very fortunate that we continue to have strong demand around the world and the world's supply has remained flat. So as a result, it's driven prices up.”
And despite the record crop expected this year, prices are still going to remain fairly firm.
Additionally, Iran, the major competitor, have had shorter crops.
“They routinely compete against us in countries like China and India. So when they have a crop that's off as it's been in 2018 and has not fully recovered in 2019, that gives us the opportunity to open up these marketplaces in those countries,” Matoian said. “The thing that we continue to hear about Iran is while they're planting, there are many more acres going out of production that are being replaced and being put into production.”
And, certain sanctions prevent Iranian pistachio growers to import into Western Europe, which keeps that market open for U.S. Pistachios.
