American pistachio industries eyeing 'fast-growing' Indian markets

At a time when the emergence of Pistachios as a promising superfood is seen all across the globe, the American Pistachios industry is eyeing the Indian markets due to their 'fast growing' nature.

In an interview with ANI, Sumit Saran, the India representative of American Pistachio Growers (APG), a non-profit trade association representing over 865 grower members in California, Arizona, and New Mexico, said " We are seeing maximum excitement in this space on pistachios. India does not cultivate or produce any pistachios. So pistachios are actually imported, either from Persia, Iran, or now from California. California pistachios are considered the best in the world because of its food safety, its quality, its high grade and standards. And it's now started coming to India. So India is now a very fast growing market."

 

Saran expressed hope in the growth trajectory to continue here in India, underlining that it is already quite substantial.

"Like I said, volume has grown from 820 or so metric tons to about 20,000 metric tons in the last seven years. So it's quite substantial. We expect this growth trajectory to continue. Like I said, the big change that has happened, Pista is nothing new for Indians, but Pista was a garnish. At our homes or anybody, we would garnish biryanis or rice or pulao with Pistachios or at times some mithai with Pistachios. You'd never saw people snacking on Pistachios," Saran said on the sidelines of an event here in New Delhi on Monday.

"Now for the first time that change is happening. That upper middle class, middle class consumers are beginning to snack on pistachios, like they did on almonds or cashews. And that's where the volume growth is coming. That's where California stands out because of its great standard quality," he added.

Meanwhile, Saran also outlined the health benefits of consuming pistachios on a daily basis, calling them an "antioxidant powerhouse."

He said, "Here is a product that you don't need to refrigerate, you can carry a small box and for your 11 am snack or 4 pm snack, such a beautiful food that gives you a fight against free radicals...this is the only nut which is a complete protein. So all nuts have protein, but this is the only nut that has the nine essential amino acids. That nine essential amino acids typically are found in animal-based foods."

"So the campaign that we are running is that says as much protein as an egg. So for vegetarians, for plant-based people who are looking at sources of plant-based protein, nothing better than a handful of pistachios...again extremely important for our population is for the weight watchers. This is considered the lowest-calorie nut. So for the same amount of calories, you can have 49 pistachios for just about 130 grams. So it's incredible. In a lot of parts of the world, it's called the skinny nut. So we are, and now, of course, we have Jaspreet Bumrah to spread this message, who better?" Saran told ANI.

The APG is governed by a democratically elected board of directors who are growers and is funded entirely by growers and independent processors with the shared goal of increasing global awareness of nutritious, American-grown pistachios.

The India office of APG has announced Jasprit Bumrah, one of the leading pace bowlers/Cricket icons in the world, as the brand ambassador for California-grown American pistachios for the 2024-25 season.

Speaking on the occasion, Bumrah said, "I am delighted to partner with American Pistachio Growers. For an athlete, nutrition plays a huge role in performance, and I find pistachios to be a perfect snack."

Meanwhile, the APG India representative further highlighted the importance of India-US ties, and affirmed that it is the 'people-to-people connection' which should be explored further.

"The other thing that brings us the ties together and something that needs to be explored is the people-to-people connection. A lot of my pistachio growers in California or in Arizona or New Mexico, that area, is people of Indian origins. And you saw one grower today, a second-generation Indian, who's now growing 2,000 acres of pistachios. And he's not alone. There is a big Indian community that's in growing of pistachios, and that connect is going to further shape this togetherness," Saran said.

Saran described Bumrah joining in for the initiative as a "start of something very big, especially leading to the Olympics, an incredible partnership to have."

It is pertinent to note that the 2028 Summer Olympics will be held in Los Angeles, US. After making its sole appearance in the 1900 Paris Olympics, cricket will be part of the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.

The sport is now set to make its long-awaited comeback after 128 years at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics. Cricket featured among the five additional sports proposed by the LA28 Organising Committee for inclusion alongside baseball-softball, flag football, lacrosse and squash. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) officially confirmed cricket's inclusion at the 141st IOC Session held in Mumbai in October 2023.