Is it all because of the viral Dubai chocolate bar? The popularity of the chocolate bar featured all over social media certainly could be contributing to pistachio's time in the spotlight as an increasingly popular flavor with consumers. It could also be helping move the 2024 California crop. "It helps that there are pistachio products that are super popular right now. It's a hot-selling crop because the demand is so high and our industry has done a good job managing the inventory based on the crop size," says Zachary Fraser of the American Pistachio Growers, adding that its organization and the industry have also been working on initiatives to help drive demand for the nut.
The popularity of the pistachio-flavored Dubai chocolate bar shows how much pistachio is becoming an increasingly popular flavor among consumers. Photo: Ceres Gourmet Store
This strong demand is also for an already smaller 2024 crop of 1.1 billion lbs. of product. That's down from the 2023 crop of 1.49 billion lbs. However, the small 2024 crop was no surprise. "It was exactly where everybody thought it was going to be–it almost landed to the pound of what was expected because it's an alternate bearing crop," says Fraser. "It's a happy accident that pistachio has become the product that everyone wants at the same time the crop came in at that size."
The 2024 crop of 1.1 billion lbs. of product is smaller than the 2023 crop, which came in at 1.49 billion lbs.
Existing supply
Fraser says there is still product in the market, though it continues to be harder and harder to find.
Looking ahead on whether this type of demand will be sustained, what does need to factor into that are the ongoing international trade issues and conversations governments are having around tariffs and the impact of those on demand. "We won't know the full effect of those until later though. Some of those traditional markets we ship to might change based on what comes out of those tariff conversations," says Fraser.
The association and the industry have been working on initiatives to help drive demand for the nut.
Looking ahead at the 2025 crop, Fraser adds that it's already looking to be a strong year with another good crop.
For more information:
Zachary Fraser
American Pistachio Growers
[email protected]
https://americanpistachios.org/