Tree Nut Exports in a Time of War

There has been much speculation on the impact the current unpleasantness in the Middle East will have on exports of tree nuts. Here we take a look at the chief foreign markets for almonds, walnuts, pistachios, and hazelnuts.

U.S. almond exports last year were valued at $4.430 billion for the shelled product and $1.645 billion for the in-shell product. The leading overseas market for shelled almonds was Spain. The top market for inshell almonds was India. Indeed, India accounted for 75.9% of all inshell almond exports last year, while Spain imported 11.1% of Americas shelled almond exports.

Of the top ten foreign markets last year for U.S. shelled almonds, the only nation being directly imperiled by the current war is the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Last year, the UAE bought $383,184,341 in shelled almonds from the U.S., an 8.6% share of all shelled almond exports in 2025. Only one other Middle Eastern nations figured in the Top Twenty list of customers for American shelled almonds. That was Saudi Arabia ($69,552,105). Israel ($38,585,693) ranked as the 21st largest foreign market for U.S. shelled almond exports.

The distribution of foreign markets for U.S. inshell almonds is rather different. The UAE ($63,021,555) and Saudi Arabia ($13,210,373) were the only Persian Gulf nations that numbered among the top twenty destinations of inshell almonds from America.

Airborne shipments of almonds, whether shelled or inshell, are not significant.

Moving on to pistachios, shelled pistachio exports last year were valued at $252,164,740, while the inshell product amounted to $2.334 billion. The UAE was the eighth largest buyer of shelled pistachios last year with purchases of $124,605,759, a 5.3% share. Saudi Arabia ($65,473,769), Jordan ($42,586,298), and Israel ($31,333,652) also ranked among important customers, although well below the $392,972,969 in inshell exports that went to Vietnam or the $278,445,702 that German importers snapped up.

For the much smaller volume of shelled pistachios shipped abroad last year, the UAE bought 4.0%, which combined with Jordan (3.3%) and Israel (1.5%) collectively accounted for less than ten percent of all exports.

Last year, U.S. shelled walnut exports were worth $993,414,484 while inshell walnut exports were valued at $299,581,000. Middle Eastern countries are not major importers of shelled walnut from the U.S. The two largest Middle Eastern importers last year were Israel with a 2.2% share of all exports and the UAE with a 2.1% share. Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait, and Oman collectively accounted for a 1.1% share of all shelled walnuts in 2025.

As for inshell walnut exports, the UAE imported $33,185,074 for an 11.1% of the nearly $300 million in exports worldwide last year. Next highest among the frontline states was Iraq (2.2%), followed by Lebanon (1.8%), Jordan (0.3%), Israel (0.2%), and Saudi Arabia (0.1%).

Finally, U.S. exports of hazelnuts or filberts amounted to $225,289,055 for the shelled variety and $33,955,405 for the inshell commodity. It can be conclusively stated that nations adjacent to the Persian Gulf conflict consume a statistically insignificant share of America’s hazelnut exports.