TEHRAN- Iran exported 135,322 tons of pistachio worth $914,427,826 during the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 20), the spokesman of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) announced.

Rouhollah Latifi said Iran’s pistachio was exported to 75 countries during the year 1400, ILNA reported.

According to Latifi, of the total exported pistachios in the previous year, 115,557 tons were unpeeled fresh pistachios, the value of which was about $696,043,124.

Also, more than 19,336 tons of dried pistachio worth over $215.879 million were exported to foreign destinations in the previous year.

Germany, with $50 million worth of imports, India with $44 million, United Arab Emirates (UAE) with $29 million, Iraq with $25 million, and Turkey with $13 million were the top five export destinations for dried pistachios.

However, in total, China was the first export destination for the Iranian product importing $199 million worth of pistachios, followed by India, Russia, Iraq, and Kyrgyzstan which imported $85 million, $53 million, $50 million, and $45 million of pistachios, respectively.

The official noted that the country’s pistachio exports in the previous year decreased by 33 percent compared to the preceding year due to drought and damage to the pistachio crops as well as the entry of pistachios from other countries into the world markets.

According to the Director-General of the Iranian Agriculture Ministry’s Office of Cold and Dry Climate Fruits Darab Hasani, the country had exported 203,637 tons of pistachios worth $1.371 billion in the Iranian calendar year 1399 (ended on March 20, 2021).

In August 2020, Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) held a pistachio export desk meeting to investigate the challenges and barriers in the way of the country’s pistachio exports.

Addressing the meeting, TPO’s former Head Hamid Zadboum put emphasis on the significant status of pistachio in Iran’s export basket as the top agricultural export item and said that a national view toward removing the pistachio export barriers should be adopted.

EF/MA