Tiktok and the trend of the « Chocolate Dubai »: so the Pistachio’s prices go up (which seems to be unobtainable)

The story of the so -called Chocolate Dubai is the simple but clear demonstration of how often the trends of social networks manage to influence whole markets. In fact, in recent months Ir: in recent monthsI on Tiktok and Instagram in video influencer and food creator They taste and review or also prepare this chocolate bar in the house with the particularity of having a filling of kataifi and pistachio pasta inside. This mania has brought the price of the pistachio to the United States to rise by over 25% since the beginning of 2025.

Pistachio demand is growing

The increase is due to a strong growth above all of the product demand. Since 2022 – the year in which the product became viral online – pistachio imports, especially of high quality, recorded an average of 15% more than the previous period for Satisfy the continuous and increasing demand for snacks and pistachio desserts. According to the Financial Timesits price has gone from about 7 to 10.30 dollars to the attitude and there are many fruits that complain about the difficulty in finding the raw material. A pressure that affects chain over the entire supply chain, from suppliers to craft producers and retailers.

Effort the offer

The offer does not seem to be able to support this boom in the question. For years the United States (in particular California) and Iran compete for the primacy in the production of pistachio: always according to FT, for the first – which is the main exporter – Last year it was a rather disappointing period of harvest And this has generated a real race between chocolate producers and other snacks to win the available kernels (it is the internal and edible part of the fruit, the real seed). Iran, however, almost confirming the success of the Dubai Chocolate, in the last seven months has exported – according to the customs office – 40% more than production in the United Arab Emirates compared to last year.

The case of Türkiye

A particular case is Turkey, where many of the typical desserts are precisely based on pistachio. Among the most well -known and widespread varieties of the product, in fact, there is the Turkish one that takes the name of Gaziantep (cultivated in the south east of the country), which from March 2024 has undergone huge increases in the cost, Also influencing the final price of products such as Baklava and other Middle Eastern desserts. To the point that many craftsmen have been forced to reduce their production or seek alternatives to contain the expenses, while parallel the government has had to evaluate measures to calm the market: in particular, seek external sources of supply by increasing the import from Syria.

The origin of the Chocolate Dubai

The recipe of the Viral Dubai Chocolate was born in 2021 when Sarah Hamouda, British-Egyptian engineer founder of the Fix Dessert Chocolatier (defined on social networks « the Willy Wonka of the new millennium »), in the grip of the cravings arising from pregnancy has made The bar inspired by the Arabic cake Knafehprepared precisely with kataifi pasta soaked in sugar syrup, typically based on rose water, and stuffed with sweet cheese, walnuts or other ingredients. In recent weeks the product seems to have also arrived on the shelves of European supermarkets and therefore also Italians and immediately became difficult to find.