{
  "id": 18009570,
  "title": "Festive season: Pistachio prices nearly double, almonds up 20% on West Asia crisis and US crop shortfall",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/03/festive-season-pistachio-prices-nearly-double-almonds-up-20-on-west",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-11-03T18:46:08.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Economic Times - Economy",
    "slug": "the-economic-times-economy",
    "url": "https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/agriculture/festive-season-pistachio-prices-nearly-double-almonds-up-20-on-west-asia-crisis-and-us-crop-shortfall/articleshow/135510824.cms"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "As the festive season approaches, pistachio prices have nearly doubled and almond prices have surged by around 20%, according to industry executives. This price hike is primarily due to supply disruptions in the West Asia region and a lower production in the US. Despite the price increases, the overall demand for dry fruits and nuts gifting has risen by 5-7% compared to the previous year. This includes a growing interest in premium and exotic nuts such as pecans, macadamias, hazelnuts, and flavored cashews.\n\nRavindra Mehta, a member of the central governing council at Nuts and Dry Fruits Council of India (NDFC-I), noted that pistachio prices have increased by about 50% in wholesale markets, with even higher price increases in retail. This is largely attributed to the current California pistachio crop being only about 40% of last year's production. The combined factors of reduced global production due to weather-related disruptions, increased shipping costs, decreased supplies from Iran and Afghanistan, and the depreciation of the rupee have all contributed to the price hike of nuts and dry fruits, resulting in a 25-40% increase in overall prices.\n\nTo cope with the price increases, companies and retailers have replaced pistachios with cheaper alternatives like seeds and berries, and reduced the quantity of almonds in gift boxes. While the grammage reduction is unprecedented, this measure has been adopted by businesses to meet their fixed gifting budgets. Despite these changes, sales in the dry fruits and nuts gifting segment continue to be robust, with an estimated 30-35% of the country's Rs 75,000-crore annual sales occurring during the Diwali period.",
  "summary": "\"Pistachio have been the game spoiler this year. The prices of pistachio from all origins including Iran, Afghanistan and California have increased,\" said Ravindra Mehta, member of central governing council at Nuts and Dry Fruits Council of India (NDFC-I). \"The current pistachio crop in California is expected to be only about 40% of last year, which has led to an increase of 50% in pista prices…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}