Although there were restrictions due to the spread of the corona, we were able to export reasonably well this year as well.
Iran’s dried fruit exports to Arab countries, India and Europe, which of course has decreased to some extent, and currently most of our exports are to China, which is often for their own consumption and do not send elsewhere.
We ship nuts through Hong Kong, which is subject to a 14% discount. In fact, if we export directly to China, the Chinese importer will have to pay 14% of the duties to the Chinese government, but they will not pay the duties when they go through Hong Kong.
There is a problem in the issue of dried fruit exports, and that is that European countries can not write on their packages, for example, “Iranian pistachios” so as not to be banned due to sanctions.
In the discussion of nuts, we do not have small packages and exports are mainly in bulk. Basically, nuts are bought only in bulk, because, for example, when Germany buys nuts from us, it distributes them among large stores, and those stores are branded. They pack it themselves and sell it!
There is a problem in the discussion of dried fruit exports, and that is that European countries can not write “Iranian pistachios” on their packages, for example. Although they themselves know that Iranian pistachios are Iranian and are very different from American pistachios in terms of taste, but due to sanctions, they do not write a name from Iran that should not be banned.
The United States produces about 51 percent of the world’s pistachios, and Iran, as one of the other pistachio producers, accounts for 31 percent.
Pistachio, as one of the main items of nuts, has a special place in the world and according to global statistics, in the 2019-2020 crop year, the production of pistachios was about 655.2 thousand tons worldwide.
On the other hand, global statistics show that Turkey produced 11% of the world’s pistachios during this period, followed by countries such as Syria and Afghanistan with a share of 4% and 1% at the bottom of the list of pistachio producers in the world.
8-month statistics of Iranian dried fruit exports
According to statistics provided by the Customs Organization, in the first eight months of this year, Iran’s dried fruit exports increased by 99 percent in terms of weight and 71 percent in terms of value.
In the first eight months of this year, we exported 133,680 tons of nuts worth $ 833,510,898, while in the same period last year, we exported 67,108 tons worth 485,958 $ 1,062 has been made from the country.
According to customs data, in the first eight months of this year, 121,305 tons of pistachios worth 797,974,740 dollars and 109,669 tons of peeled pistachios worth 675,817,854 dollars were exported. Meanwhile, 10,856 tons of pistachio kernels worth $ 118,131,865 were exported from the country during the same period.
Customs data show that in the first eight months of this year, the import of nuts has a downward trend and has decreased by 11% in terms of weight and 46% in terms of value.
