A look at the statistics of pistachio exports and production in 2020 shows that despite the trade war between the United States and China, the amount of direct exports of American pistachios to China has tripled |
The most important producers of pistachios 2020
The United States and Iran have pioneered the production of pistachios in the world, followed by Turkey and Syria. Of course, given the war situation in Syria the statistics of this country are not very reliable
However, countries such as Afghanistan, Argentina, Australia, Egypt, Greece, Lebanon, Israel, Italy, Morocco, Spain and Tunisia also produce pistachios, but due to the low volume of production, most of this product is consumed within these countries
According to USDA GAIN, the People’s Republic of China has planted about 4,000 hectares of pistachios in the Xinjiang region
It is commonly thought that producing countries should not be importing pistachios. However, both the United States and Turkey are importing pistachios
These countries import pistachio kernels; Because this way they can send their pistachios for export to countries like China with cheap labor and those countries do the work of pistachio kernels
Iran increases Turkish exports
Another reason why Turkey imports pistachios at the same time is that in the past year, our country has exported most of its pistachio products to Turkey.
Although Turkey’s production decreased by 60% in the 2019-2020 crop year, it is interesting that the country’s exports increased by 235% compared to last year
This growth is in line with the increase in Iran’s exports to Turkey. In fact, the volume of 15.2 million pounds (6,894 tons) is more than the average export of Iran to Turkey over the past four years
Important countries importing pistachios
The world’s largest pistachio import markets are Hong Kong, the People’s Republic of China, Germany and Belgium, respectively. Of course, not all of these countries import pistachios directly
Reasons for indirect and indirect imports can be
Strategic business goals
Product quality issues
Escape from domestic and foreign laws
The most important non-pistachio importing / exporting countries
Hong Kong is one of these countries, which is practically the largest indirect medium of pistachio transport. The largest volume of pistachios imported to this country goes to Vietnam
Germany, the United Arab Emirates, the Netherlands, and Vietnam itself are among the countries that, although they do not produce pistachios, play an important role in their transportation
According to the European Union, 28 members of the European Union imported 178 million pounds of raw pistachios (about 80,740 tons) from the United States in 2019
Of course, the figure announced by the United States is less than 6 million pounds (about 2,721 tons)
Meanwhile, US pistachio exports to Hong Kong and China have declined over the past three years due to the US trade war with China
According to the report of Iran’s customs statistics, from July 23, 2018 (July 1, 1397) to July 22, 2019 (July 1, 98) 294 million pounds (about 133,356 tons) were exported from Iran
Of this volume, 22.1 million pounds (about 10,000 tons) was exported to the United Arab Emirates and 23.6 million pounds to Turkey (10,700 tons) to Turkey
Of course, it goes without saying that these two countries have been the only intermediaries in the transfer and export of Iranian pistachios
Triple the direct import of American pistachios to China
According to pistachio Press, although the trade war between the United States and China has caused China to increase import tariffs from this country, the point is that American pistachios are still in demand in China
Although Iran is the second largest exporter of pistachios to China, the supply shortage of this product, which existed in 2018-2019, continued last year.
Nevertheless, we saw changes in the pistachio trade and the Chinese and Hong Kong markets
Total US pistachio exports to China (ie direct exports, not through Hong Kong) have increased by. 60.7 million (about 27,533 tonnes) compared to 2018.
Meanwhile, US exports to Hong Kong fell by 42 million; Thus, a larger share of US pistachios has reached China directly instead of being exported through Hong Kong
41% of pistachios exported to China went to China in 2019, while last year only 15% of this shipment went directly to China
Tariffs for US roasted pistachios are lower than for raw pistachios, but exports to China have fallen by 11.5 million
Imports from the United States rose from 30 million to. 90.6 million, according to US export reports
Data from Hong Kong and China also confirm the US figures; So China was the best US pistachio market in 2019; Because 41% of total US pistachio exports go to this country
In 2019, the Chinese tariff for American pistachios was 55%
That is why Vietnam became one of the main destinations for American pistachios to be exported to China through this country with a tariff close to zero. Because Vietnam is a member of the ASEAN countries
Of course, it goes without saying that in 2019, about 45 million pounds of pistachios were exported to Vietnam, which is a decrease of 20 million pounds compared to 65 million pounds in 2018
This is the third year that imports have dropped significantly
India More imports from the US, less from Iran
Indian pistachio imports have changed dramatically over the past few years
US pistachio imports to India in 2019 reached 16.6 million pounds (1,500 tons per week)
Last year, it was only ۹ 6.9 million (3,118 tonnes)
Meanwhile, the situation of Iranian pistachio exports to India has not been very good
Because India’s imports from Iran have decreased from 4,871 tons in 2018 to 1,510 tons in 2019