Sharjah24 – AFP: Tucked away in Tehran's famed Grand Bazaar, Iran's oldest pistachio wholesaler quietly prepares a small revolution -- he will hand his business to his youngest daughter, in a trade dominated by men.
Abbas Emami, 88, began working for his own father at the age of 15. More than seven decades on, bags of pistachios at the family shop are emblazoned with the slogan "over a century of experience".
He doesn't know exactly when his family first got into the business.
Emami is now in the process of transferring that expertise to his 50-year-old daughter Marjan, who will also take over his firm, Shams Roasted Nuts.
The pistachios are generally grown in the provinces of Kerman and Semnan.
Every two or three months, agents working on behalf of the growers come and place orders.
Competitors attest to the fact that Emami -- who took over the business from his father in 1975 -- is the oldest pistachio wholesaler in town.
"The best-tasting variety, in my opinion, is the Ahmad-Aghaei, which sells at 495,000 tomans ($16) per kilogram," he said.
Iran's last pistachio harvest, in October, yielded 280,000 tonnes, of which half was consumed at home and the rest exported to around 75 countries.
The exports brought in the equivalent of $900 million, making the industry a sizeable contributor to Iran's economy.
Iran is one of the top three global consumers of pistachios, after Turkey and China, and demand is particularly high during Nowruz, the Persian new year celebrations.
Roasting the nuts is a crucial part of the process.
A few streets away from Emami's shop, in the Ahangaran district of the capital, 80 kilogram bags of raw pistachios are piled high.
The pistachio trade has evolved considerably since the 1950s, according to Emami.
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