Never Mind Oil, Iran’s About to Shake the World Pistachio Market

1
>>Follow Matzav On Whatsapp!<<

pistachio-nuts

Iran is ready to return to the global commodities market, flooding it with fresh supplies and risking a slump in prices. Oil? Possibly, but there’s a second industry that could be even more disrupted by a nuclear pact between Iran and the west: pistachio nuts.

Iran has far more clout in the market for cocktail nibbles than it does in crude trading. While it ranks only as the world’s seventh-largest oil producer, the Middle Eastern country vies with the U.S. to be the biggest pistachio grower.

As with oil, Iranian sales of pistachios to the U.S. and Europe have been hampered by sanctions. As the talks between Washington and Tehran to resolve the decade-long nuclear dispute head toward the June 30 deadline for a final agreement, traders are predicting lower prices.

“The new supply will have an impact,” said Hakan Bahceci, chief executive officer of Hakan Agro DMCC, a grain, nuts and pulses trading house based in Dubai.

The biggest losers may be Californian farmers who have doubled pistachio acreage over the past ten years despite drought conditions. Pistachio production in California started in earnest in 1979 and output hit 513 million pounds last year, more than triple the harvest in 2004, according to the U.S. Administrative Committee for Pistachios.

For nut lovers, more supply would be good news: prices have risen 40 percent over the last five years due to supply shortages.

Yet, so far, the California pistachio industry is unconcerned. Bob Klein, manager of the Fresno-based Administrative Committee for Pistachios, said Iran would struggle to sell into Europe and the U.S. because of high levels of contamination from aflatoxin, a toxic chemical caused by fungus.

“I am not hearing a great deal of concern within the industry about the return of Iran,” he said in an interview. Even if prices decline a bit, farmers will still thrive in California.
“Prices had been good. Pistachios are among the most profitable perennial crops” in the U.S., he said.

Read more at BLOOMBERG BUSINESS.

{Matzav.com Newscenter}


1 COMMENT

  1. I would love if the prices would come down. It currently cost around $10 dollars a pound.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here