Pistachio Crop May Not Double As Soon As Expected

The U.S. pistachio crop may not double in size by the end of the decade, as was originally predicted. Speaking at the annual American Pistachio Growers (APG) meeting, held a week ago at the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego, Executive Director Richard Matoian said a couple of factors had changed.

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First, largely because of the ongoing drought, APG has dropped their planting projections for this year. While 25,000 acres of pistachios were planted in 2013, Matoian said that figure is expected to dip significantly in 2014, to 15,000 acres. Another factor is that experts believe a lot of the newer pistachio acreage was planted on marginal ground, and the orchards won’t be as productive as those previously planted on better soils.

But that doesn’t mean the crop size won’t be climbing by leaps and bounds, especially when compared to other crops. There are currently 265,000 acres of pistachios in the ground, and just 177,000 produced nuts this year.

Sales have rocketed in recent years, up 139% over 2005-06, said Matoian. Domestic sales are up 72% in that time, while exports are up fully 200%. A lot of that export growth has been driven by shipments to China/Hong Kong, where shipments have grown nearly a whopping 3,000%.

“It’s unparalleled to have this kind of growth,” said Matoian, “especially when combined with (such healthy) returns.”

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APG, which has grown from 351 members to 585 in the past six years, is driving a lot of that growth by investing in marketing. The marketing budget has grown from $443,000 in 2007-08 to more than $9 million for this coming year. Pistachios now rank only behind almonds and peanuts in marketing expenditures, said Matoian.

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