Iranian Pistachio production, one fifth of last year
December 11, 2018 at 1:24 PM ,
Chitra Trade Aryan
Pistachio is one of the most important Iranian horticultural products, which accounted for a major share of non-oil exports in Iran. But it seems that this product has been struggling with many problems over the past few years such as water deficiency and lack of proper management, the pest's resistance because of irregular use of toxin and non-toxic fertilizer, the political point of view at this product, and the challenges of banking sanctions against exports and returning the money.
Pistachio is a desert plant. According to the official reports, the cultivation area of pistachios in Iran is more than 360 thousand hectares currently. Kerman province, with a total of more than 270 thousand hectares of fertile and non-fortified gardens, produces about 70 percent of the total country's production and is considered to be the most important pistachio region of Iran and the world. The pistachio production of Iran is estimated between 50 to 60 thousand tons this year. This amount is equivalent to 30% of last year's production, which should cover both domestic and export demands.
Cold and heat stress at the beginning of this year reduced the production of pistachios by 150 thousand tons, equivalent to 70 percent of the previous year, which in addition to the loss of export markets, has led to an unconventional increase in the price of the product in the domestic market. Last year (2017) a total of 220 thousand tons of pistachios were produced in Iran, which 148 thousand tons of this production were exported with the worth of 1.1 billion USD
Regarding the statistics, there are about 20 thousand tons pistachios remained from the last year. So this year the amount of pistachio that is available in Iran is 70,000 which only 40,000 tons can meet the exporting standards. Also, exporters are struggling with currency problems. In the coming months, it is predictable that Iran will give a significant portion of its markets to their perennial rival, the United States.
Iran was one of the world's largest pistachio exporters, which lost nearly 50% of its export markets this year with a 70% drop in production. The US has managed to seize Iran's export market with the production of 400 thousand pistachios this year.
So, regarding the researches, we can consider the drought and climate change as the main reasons for the production decrease. Old farmers believe that the season creep is the most important reason for reducing in productivity.
It is anticipated that if the drought will continue next year, in 2019, Iran will produce less than 100,000 tons of pistachio, which will lead Iran to withdraw from the world's pistachio export market. However, in case of supplying water demand of pistachio gardens, Iran can produce more than 200,000 tons of pistachios.
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