Why are Pistachios expensive?

5 reasons for their high price

  1. Intense and difficult labour growing and harvesting by hand.
  2. Pistachio trees require very hot summers and cool winters without frosts.
  3. 5+ years to produce nuts. 15-20 years to reach peak production.
  4. Crops must be rotated since they only produce a yield during alternate years.
  5. Requires climatic conditions that are ideal in very few locations around the world. California (nearly half of the world’s pistachios), the Middle East (Iran is world’s second top producer) followed by Turkey, China, and Syria. There is also production in parts of Argentina.