About 118,000 tons of pistachio worth more than $1.2 billion were exported to over 70 countries, indicating a 34% and 24% decline in volume and value respectively compared with the previous year’s corresponding figure.
The reason for the decline is said to be the rise in prices in the local market, which compelled merchants to sell the commodity domestically instead of exporting it, ISNA reported.
Hong Kong, Vietnam, Spain and Germany are major customers of Iranian pistachio.
Iran produced more than 250,000 tons of pistachio last year.
