Boosted Dubai chocolate craze, Argentina bets on pachios | World News

In Argentina’s rapidly growing pachio heartland, rows of trees bearing the ripening yellow fruit dot the dry landscape, a sign of how this agricultural region is striving to capitalize on its favorable climate to cash in on worldwide demand for the nut, which has been driven the popularity of pachio-filled Dubai chocolate.The country’s pachio acreage has quintupled in the last five years to about 25,000 acres, according to the National Network to Study Pachio Trees in Argentina, formed scients in 2023. Most of the trees are in San Juan, a mining and farming province nestled against the Andes mountain range.

Planters say there is room for much wider expansion. The network has identified 65,000 square km — 16 million acres — in the provinces of San Juan, Mendoza, San Luis and La Pampa with hospitable temperatures for pachios, which take about seven years from planting to bear significant fruit and need arid, hot summers and chilly winters.

While the world’s leading pachio producers, the United States, Iran, and Turkey, far surpass Argentina, the South American country is the only significant grower on the continent and producers say it has the potential to become an important exporter, especially when the northern hemisphere is off-season.

“Without a doubt, Argentina can turn into a great producer,” said Alberto Aguilera, who manages the pachio groves in San Juan province for SolFrut, which with nearly 3,000 acres will be among the largest producers once it begins to harvest in earnest in 2027. “You have land, water, and the climate conditions.” Story continues below this ad

Pachio growers in Argentina mostly use rootstock seeds from California, which has about 500,000 pachio-bearing acres. According to The Wonderful Company, which grows between 15% and 20% of the US crop, there is tight supply for pachio kernels as an ingredient and snack.

“People can’t get enough of it,” said Stephen Vasquez, executive director of the Adminrative Committee for Pachios, which regulates the quality of almost all pachios produced in the US That includes Argentines.

With the increased popularity spurred creamy pachio-filled “Dubai chocolate,” which went viral on TikTok in 2023, companies have branched out to produce pachio dulce de leche and pachio pastries. Even the country’s oil and gas company, YPF, is marketing its own pachio alfajor, a traditional Argentine cookie.

‘THEY SAID I WAS CRAZY’

Marcelo Ighani, 74, an Iranian immigrant, told Reuters that people thought he was crazy when he began planting the country’s first pachio crop in the 1980s in San Juan province.Story continues below this ad

In November at his Pé company’s plant nursery, six female workers lened to music while preparing pachio rootstocks. Since 2023, Pé has more than doubled the rootstock it produces annually – which it uses itself or sells to farmers – to 400,000 plants expected in 2025.

“We have a lot of unsatisfied demand that we can’t meet,” said Ighani’s son, Maximiliano, who helps run the business.

In a 2024 report on pachios, Argentina’s Federal Council of Investments said the country exports a third to half of its pachios. Most go to Italy, followed Russia, Australia and other Latin American nations.

Producers told Reuters they expect exports to increase as more investors jump into the market, satisfying the internal demand, and more pachio trees bear fruit. While there are no official estimates, industry leaders say only a small fraction of the country’s pachio acres currently produce nuts. SolFrut began planting pachios in 2019 on land it had used for growing olives, and invests about $12,000 per acre, according to José Chediack, president of Grupo Phronesis, which includes SolFrut. Story continues below this ad

While acknowledging that pachio is enjoying “a very good moment,” he is wary about how long the boom will last. He said the nut’s potential could be boosted if improved macroeconomic conditions under President Javier Milei result in banks offering lower interest rates and more years to repay loans. Faced with falling global wine consumption, some producers have replaced vineyards with pachios and other nuts.

Foreseeing pachio’s potential even before the current boom, the province of Mendoza – famed for its Malbec grapes – put out a press release in 2020 that boasted of its growing pachio acreage, called the nut “green gold” and included a recipe for pachio-and-cheese empanadas.

Ramiro Martins, a third-generation wine producer in Mendoza, has planted about 250 acres of pachio that he expects to start harvesting in 2026. He also converted his vineyards to grow almonds and walnuts.“We understood that the market was moving towards more healthy trends,” he said. “We really have put a lot of hope and luck in this project.”

PACHIO FEVER

In San Juan province, which has a population of about 800,000, pachio trees have the third highest acreage of any agricultural product, following vineyards and olive groves.Story continues below this ad

“Pachio will have a very strong impact on the economy of San Juan,” said Miguel Moreno, the province’s agriculture secretary. “This sustained demand has surprised everyone and I think is an incentive for long-term investments.” Pachio fever is clearly visible here.

At the Tres Cumbres alfajores factory, a worker spreads pachio paste between two cookies. Near, the Habana artisanal ice cream store offers three themed flavors: classic pachio, pachio with white chocolate and Dubai chocolate pachio – the last two added this year.

But when Graciela Gomez visited with her grandson recently, it had run out of plain pachio. She stared in disbelief. “There’s no pachio. How can that be?” she asked.