Official data on Iran’s pistachio exports indicate a considerable decline in the value of shipments this year.
According to Daryoush Salempour, an Agriculture Ministry official, exports reached $915 million in the last Iranian year (March 2021-22).
“The figure accounted for half of Iran’s horticultural exports’ value over the period,” he was quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.
“Pistachio orchards account for 20% of Iran’s total orchards and are mainly located in the provinces of Kerman, Khorasan Razavi, South Khorasan, Yazd, Fars, Semnan, Markazi, Qom, Qazvin, Sistan-Baluchestan, Tehran and Isfahan,” he added.
Latest statistics released by the Agriculture Ministry shows only $229.9 million worth of pistachio were exported from Iran during the first eight months of the current Iranian year (March 21-Nov. 21).
Salempour noted that drought, frost, depletion of groundwater and water salinity are posing serious threat to Iran’s pistachio orchards.
Iran’s pistachio exports have been declining since the fiscal 2007-08 when exports of the products reached 265,000 tons.
Last Iranian year (March 2021-22), the figure stood at 135,000 tons.
Water Crisis in Kerman
In Kerman, the main pistachio producing province of Iran, many local farmers say their orchards have dried up due to the acute water crisis and many others have left the province to rebuild orchards in other places like Saveh and Qazvin.
Orchard owners in Kerman say they have dug wells as deep as 150 meters in search of water, only to realize underground resources have dried up.
Kerman accounts for around 70% of Iran’s pistachio output. Yields in Rafsanjan County, which is the biggest producer in terms of both weight and quality, have fallen by 50% this year.
Farhad Agah, a member of the board at Iran Pistachio Association, says apart from drought, high temperatures as well as early frosts in the spring damage pistachio orchards and harvest in Kerman.
“This year’s production will be lower than last year’s. Drought is causing damage to local pistachio orchards. Once the best pistachio in the world was known to come from Iran and our exports brought in revenues as high as $1.5 billion. But now, all of this is at stake,” he said.
Cold weather in spring has caused 130 trillion rials (about $330 million) in damage to pistachio orchards in Kerman Province, according to Mehdi Tabibzadeh, the chairman of Kerman Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture.
Mohammad Reza Mousavi Torabi, the head of the Agriculture Commission of Kerman Chamber of Commerce, said around 180,000 hectares of pistachio orchards were hit by the cold after the start of the current Iranian year (March 21), with three-fifths of them experiencing more than 50% damage.
As a result, he added, this year’s production of the nut is expected to decline by 65,000 tons at least, and the quality of the remaining yield will certainly drop.
Kerman’s Governor-General Ali Zeynivand said preliminary estimates showed that the pistachio industry suffered losses amounting to 200 trillion rials ($500 million), adding that the figure equals 8% of the province’s annual GDP.
Pistachio was once touted as Iran’s most important non-oil exported commodity, but currently that’s not the case.
On average, Iran exports 80% of its total pistachio yields to dozens of countries. Vietnam, Hong Kong, Germany, the UAE, India, Iraq, Russia and Turkey are Iran’s traditional pistachio export markets.
Deputy Agriculture Minister Mohammad Mehdi Boroumandi has said that due to the water crisis, pistachio orchards will no longer be expanded in Kerman Province.
“These orchards will be rejuvenated but no longer expanded. We are also after replacing pistachio trees with other crops that need less water to grow,” he said.
Over the past few years, the soil of many regions in Iran have been tested to see if they are fit for pistachio cultivation. Presently, pistachio is grown in Khorasan Razavi, Yazd, South and North Khorasan, Tehran, East and West Azarbaijan, Lorestan, Fars, Semnan, Markazi, Qom, Sistan-Baluchestan, Isfahan, Qazvin, Alborz and Ardabil provinces.
Mohammad Reza Bakhtiari, the former head of Kerman Regional Water Authority, affiliated with the Ministry of Energy, noted that groundwater withdrawal in Kerman is almost three times as much as the global redline, and nearly six times as much as the ideal average.
“At present, even providing the residents of Kerman with potable water is a challenge,” he said, adding that illegal and unrestrained digging and withdrawals from wells in the province have increased over the past few decades.
These have led to the depletion of groundwater resources, degradation of water quality and an increase in water salinity.
“Although the disastrous situation arising from the drying up of pistachio orchards is evident, water management in Kerman has yet to improve,” he said.
Bakhtiari said every year, pistachio trees on 12,000 to 15,000 hectares of orchards die in Kerman due to water shortage.
World’s Biggest Cultivation Area, 2nd Biggest Production
According to Salempour, with around 534,000 hectares of orchards and about 300,000 tons of harvest per year, Iran is the first country worldwide in terms of land under pistachio cultivation and second in terms of production after the US.
Iran and the US are the world’s biggest producers of pistachio. The US output has overtaken Iran’s in recent years, although the quality of the Iranian crop is widely said to be superior to that of the US.
In addition, Iran has more diverse varieties in pistachio than the US.
Iranian pistachios have a world-famous flavor that is unrivaled. This taste advantage is improved by roasting Iranian pistachios at higher temperatures, made by higher unsaturated oil content. This high-temperature roasting reduces any bacterial pollution, which may be existing in raw product.
According to Ratinkhosh R&D Team, Iranian pistachios have more capability for roasting. Due to their higher unsaturated oil content, they can be roasted at 160 to 180°C (hot stream temperature). Excellent roasting with higher temperature brings out the unique flavor of pistachio.
