A shipment total is tidy until two trade reports put different numbers on the same crop year. September coverage of the U.S. pistachio season offered just that complication: one account put movement at a round 1.3 billion pounds, while another reported a lower total.
AgNet West reported that U.S. shipments increased 19% from the previous crop year. The figure suggests a brisk market for a crop whose next season is projected to bring lower yields.
California’s export-heavy ledger
California producers supplied 951 million pounds for export and shipped 346.6 million pounds domestically, according to AgNet West’s account. That split makes overseas demand central to how much crop moves, even as domestic buyers take a substantial share.
The shipment figures sit beside a much larger production backdrop. USDA’s Economic Research Service says U.S. production reached a record 1.58 billion pounds in 2025, reflecting a long expansion in bearing acreage as well as harvests.
Two totals, one crop year
National Nut Grower reported more than 1.14 billion pounds shipped for 2025-26, rather than the larger figure in AgNet West’s report. The available accounts do not explain the difference, so handlers comparing seasons should verify the underlying shipment series and its scope before treating either number as a clean benchmark.
Strong movement is evidence that California pistachios found buyers through the season; it is not, by itself, a farmgate price, a measure of grower returns, or a forecast of what the next crop will earn. Shipment totals describe product leaving the system, not the costs of producing and preparing it.
For orchard managers and handlers, the practical question is how quickly sales draw down available inventory as the next crop approaches. The first monthly shipment report for the 2026-27 crop year will provide a useful decision point for comparing early movement with current sales plans.