Pistachio Growers Applaud Tariff : Levy on Iran Nuts Expected to Help California Farmers

California’s pistachio growers, who claimed to have lost 40% of last year’s domestic sales to cheap pistachios from Iran, predicted a boom in 1986 sales after the federal government last week slapped tariffs totaling 236% on the Iranian imports.

“Everybody is on quite an upbeat note,” Ronald Khachigian, chairman of the California Pistachio Commission, said Friday. “We feel that we can sell any amount of pistachios we can grow.”

The whopping 236% tariff--actually a combination of penalties--means that importers of Iranian pistachios will now have to post a $2.36 customs bond for every $1 worth of nuts that they bring into this country, commission lobbyist Robert I. Schramm said.

The International Trade Administration acted after California growers produced evidence that Iranian-grown pistachios that sold wholesale for $3.50 a pound in Tehran were selling wholesale on the East Coast for $1.30 a pound, Schramm said.

Khachigian said grower optimism stems in part from the timing of the decision. Pistachio trees alternate between producing huge crops and small crops, he explained, and “we’re going into our ‘up’ year.”

“We won’t have the pressure of cheap pistachios hanging over our head, depressing prices,” he said. “This is what happened to us two years ago.”

Prices on the 1984 crop, sold last year, plunged up to 60 cents a pound as Iranian nuts augmented an already swollen California crop, flooding the market, Khachigian said.

Series of Decisions

Schramm said the 236% total in penalties reflects a series of decisions, some final, some subject to modification.

In a preliminary finding last December, the government imposed a 56.8% tariff on Iranian pistachios in response to evidence of unfair trade practices. In the final ruling this month, it replaced that with a 99.5% penalty and made the levy retroactive to last Dec. 30.

The government also ordered a preliminary “anti-dumping” levy of 192.5%, effective last Dec. 5.

(“Dumping”--selling abroad at prices lower than production costs--is a violation of the international General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.)

A final determination on that penalty is due by July 3.

Because of some overlap, the net result, fully effective last week, totaled 236%, Schramm said.

Schramm and Khachigian estimated that 4 million to 6 million pounds of Iranian nuts have been imported since the effective dates of the tariffs. Unless these are removed from sale, the penalties could net the government up to $10 million, Schramm said.

Due to an earlier customs ruling, upheld by the U.S. Court of International Trade, pistachio importers must now clearly label their packages to show the country of origin.

One importer was selling Iranian nuts under a “Pride of California” label; another labeled the nuts “Sun Ranch,” listing a California address. (Virtually all U.S. pistachios are grown in California.)

Many retailers opposed the disclosure, Schramm said, not wishing to advertise their pistachios as “produce of Iran.”