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The rise of Dubai chocolate meteors has led to a global pistachio supply crunch, causing a global shortage of green nuts and rising prices.
The bar, a marriage of Pistachio Cream, was a modest hit until Tiktok's video transformed into a global sense after its 2021 release with a revised 2021 boutique Emirati Chocolatier.
Posted in December 2023, the clip has accumulated over 12 million views, fueling the pistachio chocolate pandemic and creating many knock-offs.
Due to the trend, the price of the pistachio kernel has skyrocketed from $7.65 per pound a year ago to about $10.30 today, and Giles is hacking the nut trader CG hack. “The pistachio world is basically tapped at this point,” he said.
Chocolate won't be cheaper. Lindt's Dubai offers retailers in the UK for 145 grams for 10 pounds, more than twice the other bars. However, consumers are so enthusiastic that some shops reportedly limit the number of bars each customer can buy, but Lindt and British supermarket WM Morrison have launched Pistachio Cream Easter Eggs.
Pistachio strains had already declined after a disappointing harvest in the US, the leading nut exporter last year. American crops are also of higher quality than usual, and fewer of the cheap, shell-free kernels commonly sold as ingredients for chocolate and other food products, Hacking said.
“There was not much supply, so when Dubai chocolate came [chocolatiers] They buy every kernel they get. . . It shortens the rest of the world,” Hacking said.
According to Iran's customs, Iran, the world's second-largest producer, exported 40% more pistachios to the UAE in the six months between March 2025 and March 2025.
Behrooz Agah, a board member of the Iranian Pistachio Association, said the shortfall has been a sharp reversal since 2023 when global pistachio supply caused prices to fall in demand.
That excess has made “a variety of by-products available, such as pistachio butter, oils, and pastes, which can be used in a wide range of pistachio-based foods,” he said. “It was a Dubai chocolate launch and gradually went viral around the world.”
In California, some farmers have begun switching from almonds to pistachios in recent years, mainly due to low almond prices, but these trees will not begin production until next season's harvest in September.
In the meantime, chocolatier says it cannot produce enough cream-filled bars.
“It feels like it's coming out of nowhere. All of a sudden, you see it in shops all over the corner,” said Charles Jandreau, general manager of Prestat Group, which owns the UK luxury brand.
“No one is ready for this,” he said.
Chocolate enthusiasts were already struggling with the cocoa supply crunch, and in 2024 the prices almost tripled as extreme weather and illness hit the harvest. The producers sell a small bar with new recipes to come to Cocoa.
The original, named the Viral Bar, Fix named “I can't get Knafeh” after the traditional Arab desert, but said it was “incredible” to see how the company influenced the “chocolate movement” but was concerned that others were misusing the brand to mislead customers. The company does not sell bars outside the UAE, only sells them for two hours a day.
That rival is not upset.
“We are overwhelmed by the demand for Dubai chocolate,” said Johannes Ledarach, chief executive of Switzerland's Chocolatier Ledarach. “We launched them a few months ago and not only does it stop, it's also going through the roof.”
