With just two weeks to go in the harvest, Deon Steicke of Sunny Boy Nuts says the pistachio season is shaping up strongly, driven in large part by maturing orchards coming into full production. "For our orchard this season, the production is about 30–40% more than last year as our young trees are becoming more mature, some of them yielding their first crop this year," he says.
© Sunny Boy Nuts
That uplift comes at a time of firm demand, both domestically and abroad. "Demand currently is very high for in-shell pistachios but even more so for kernels," Steicke notes, adding that the business has fielded "numerous purchase enquiries in recent months". While Australia's domestic market remains robust, global dynamics are beginning to tilt further in the sector's favour. Ongoing disruption in key producing regions is expected to tighten supply. "With the conflict in the Middle East and associated disruption, we expect demand to increase further as major exporters such as Iran, Turkey, and Syria will be constrained from exporting," he says.
Export interest reflects that shift. China remains a core destination, but enquiries are widening. "China remains one of the major export markets for pistachios; however, we have also had enquiries from India and Europe," Steicke says. For now, however, strong local demand has limited the need to aggressively pursue offshore markets. "Demand for pistachios within Australia continues to remain strong, so for now we have not been heavily reliant on export," he explains, although he notes that the balance may shift as Australian production ramps up in the coming years.
© Sunny Boy Nuts
The season has not been without its setbacks. Heavy rainfall during harvest has affected the appearance of the crop. "We had over 100mm of rain at the beginning of March and a subsequent 12mm of rain in the two weeks following this," Steicke says. The result is cosmetic rather than structural. "This results in more staining on the shell, but fortunately, it shouldn't affect the kernels themselves." Size has also normalised after a particularly strong previous year. "Last year was a very good year for pistachio size. This year so far seems more average," he says, noting that the dominant Sirora variety typically sits in the medium-large range rather than producing oversized nuts.
Even so, pricing is moving in the right direction. "With increasing demand, there has been an increase in pistachio prices, both from in-shell and kernels," Steicke says, with further upward pressure likely if supply constraints persist globally.
© Sunny Boy Nuts
It hasn't all been plain sailing for Sunny Boy with some significant challenges in recent years. Establishing the orchard in 2017 marked a shift away from decades of stone fruit production, but progress was slowed by the pandemic. "Covid was a major challenge as the restrictions in international travel made it difficult for us to purchase processing machines and see them operating in person," Steicke says. The solution was remote collaboration. "Fortunately, we were able to communicate via WhatsApp with various other international processors to get a gauge of the benefits and limitations of certain processing machines."
For more information:
Deon Steicke
Sunny Boy Nuts
Tel: +61 428 174574
https://sunnyboynuts.com.au/
[email protected]
