In the last five years, interest from producers and investors in joining a trend that seeks to capitalize on growing global demand has multiplied.
Pistachio production in the country has been ongoing for nearly four decades, mostly concentrated in the provinces of San Juan and Mendoza, where more than 90% of the cultivated hectares nationwide are located, and to a lesser extent in La Pampa, San Luis, and Catamarca. However, in the past five years, pistachios have become a true magnet attracting significant investments.
With rising global demand and few producing countries, Argentina is seeking to enter a market traditionally led by Iran, Iraq, and Turkey, but now strongly dominated by the United States, the world’s leading producer, with cultivation concentrated in the state of California.
Countries such as Greece, Italy, Spain, and Australia also compete in supplying this highly sought-after nut, used both as a snack (in-shell and shelled) and in products such as pistachio flour or paste. Argentina is gradually entering this select group of countries.
According to official sources, in the last five years the planted area has grown by 500%, especially in southeastern San Juan—which accounts for 87% of the total hectares dedicated to pistachios—and northern Mendoza. Across the country, there are around 7,000 hectares planted, but this is expected to quickly reach 10,000 hectares.
The pioneers
Pistachios are native to the Middle East and arrived in Argentina in the 1980s thanks to Marcelo Ighani, an entrepreneur of Iranian origin who brought seeds experimentally, without knowing whether the land and climate would be suitable for pistachio production.
With 41 years in the market, his company Pisté S.R.L., in addition to having plantations and producing pistachios with and without shells, has a drip-irrigated nursery capable of supplying young plants of the UCB1 and Pioneer Gold varieties, onto which the productive varieties Kerman (female) and Peters (male) are later grafted. Each year, 80,000 seeds imported from California and Arizona in the United States are germinated.
The activity “has grown significantly in the last five years; now some see that pistachios can be produced in the country because demand is increasing, but we have been producing for more than 35 years,” says Leopoldo Bravo, manager of Frutos del Sol S.A., a company based in the 25 de Mayo department in the Tulúm Valley (San Juan) for 37 years.
Frutos del Sol is the country’s largest producer, exporting to ten destinations and offering pistachios with and without shells, as well as roasted and salted in-shell pistachios, pistachio flour, oil, and crocantino. They sell about 400,000 kilograms in the domestic market and export 1.6 million kilograms of pistachios annually.
“We export to Chile, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, China, Germany, and Italy, and we have a warehouse in Florence, near the port of Genoa, to supply markets more quickly,” says Leopoldo Bravo.
Plant and wait
Among the companies that entered the business more recently is SolFrut, part of the Phrónesis Group, which has four divisions: Agro, Oils, Foods, and Wines. SolFrut is a leader in olive growing by production capacity, with its Oliovita brand.
“The first stage in pistachios began in 2019; we have planted a significant area, with a strong productive commitment through the Californian model, which allows production of 2,500–3,000 kilograms per hectare, whereas the traditional Iranian model produces 300 kg/ha,” says José Chediack, president of Grupo Phrónesis.
Aiming for vertical integration in the business, SolFrut currently has more than 900 hectares planted with pistachios and plans to reach 1,100 hectares by the end of 2025. This is significant considering that the entire country has around 7,000 hectares planted.
Pistachios are a crop that requires significant investment, mainly because the first production batches occur 6 or 7 years after the initial pruning. Investment pools and trusts are also growing, involving people from other sectors who want to gain a foothold in pistachios.
“These are very large investments; our investment plan is around US$30,000 per hectare, and this does not include the industrial plant,” explains Chediack, adding that Argentina could quickly reach 10,000 hectares planted.
Pistachos de los Andes began in 1998 with 75 hectares in Punta del Agua, in the 25 de Mayo district (San Juan), and now has 300 hectares dedicated to pistachio cultivation, along with a nursery and a state-of-the-art processing plant.
It covers the entire production cycle, from seed germination, planting, harvesting, processing, and packaging to commercialization, supplying both the domestic market and exports to Spain, Italy, Brazil, Chile, and Colombia.
Other players include Dulpa S.A., which has 90 hectares in San Juan and two decades in the business, and BMF Agro, through Finca Boni, led by Facundo Balboni, a pistachio producer who joined the sector a few years ago and owns a processing plant in the province of Mendoza.
Key information
This month, the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA) presented the first agroclimatic zoning of the crop, using meteorological data and phenological information collected over a decade to determine the most productive areas and their potential.
This is sensitive information, as pistachios require very cold winters (-7°C) and very warm summers (+30°C), as well as water availability, since the highest yields are achieved under irrigated conditions.
“Based on producers’ demands, we systematized a decade of data to create this map, which focuses on the Kerman variety, the most widespread in the country,” explained Eduardo Trentacoste, a fruit-growing specialist at INTA La Consulta, Mendoza.
“Argentina has the potential for 10,000 to 12,000 hectares planted with pistachios,” says Trentacoste, noting that in this crop “the limiting factor is water.” Despite this, he highlights that after the zoning presentation “there has been a surge of inquiries from Neuquén and Córdoba,” from producers and even nurseries. The map is publicly accessible and aims to reduce risks and increase the profitability of private investments.