Newscasts - Boosted by 'Dubai chocolate' craze, Argentina bets on pistachios
04/12/2025 22:06
Click the following link to watch video: https://share.newscasts.refinitiv.com/link?entryId=1_7xorrc3k&referenceId=tag:reuters.com,2025:newsml_RW739604122025RP1_K15&pageId=Newscasts Source: 'Reuters - General news videos' Description: In Argentina’s rapidly growing pistachio heartland, rows of trees bearing the ripening yellow fruit dot the dry landscape, a sign of how this agricultural region is striving to capitalize on its favorable climate to cash in on worldwide demand for the nut. Rachel Faber reports. Short Link: https://lseg.group/48RrnG2 Video Transcript: Argentina is striving to capitalize on its favorable climate to cash in on a growing worldwide demand for pistachios, fueled in part by a TikTok trend around pistachio-filled treats known as "Dubai chocolate". According to one study, Argentina's pistachio acreage has quintupled in the last five years to about 25,000 acres. Most are in San Juan, a mining and farming province nestled against the Andes Mountains. And producers like Alberto Aguilera say Argentina could be an important exporter that rivals the US, Iran, and Turkey, the world's top pistachio growers. Argentina can definitely become a major producer. What entrepreneurs need are conditions to come and invest, basically credits and political conditions in Argentina, because these are large investments, important investments. But here you have the land, water, and climate conditions for Argentina to have 60,000, 80,000 hectares, 100,000 hectares, between San Juan and Mendoza planted with pistachios. With the growing popularity of pistachios spurred by the Dubai chocolate trend, which went viral on TikTok in 2023, companies in Argentina have branched out to produce other pistachio sweets, including cookies. Pistachios take about seven years from planting to bear significant fruit and need arid, hot summers and chilly winters. Iranian immigrant Marcelo Ighani, says when he planted the country's first pistachio crop in the 1980s in San Juan province, people were skeptical. People said I was crazy and, well, it gives you more strength to prove that I'm not crazy. So, one becomes more attached to doing what they were doing. I was absolutely certain that it was the right path, but people didn't understand it. His company, Piste, is growing quickly. It produces root stocks, the very beginnings of pistachio trees, which it uses itself or sells to other farmers. Since 2023, Piste has more than doubled the root stock it produces annually. He's expecting 400,000 plants in 2025. In San Juan province, pistachio trees have the third-highest acreage of any agricultural product, following vineyards and olive groves. Faced with falling global wine consumption, some producers have replaced their vineyards with pistachios and other nuts, including almonds and walnuts.