Deshidratados
Oct. 4, 2022![](https://chilealimentos.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/hazelnut_turkey_699px.jpg)
Turquía/Usda: producción de avellanas sería sobre 680 mil toneladas
Turkey is the largest producer and exporter of hazelnuts in the world, accounting for about 70 percent of world production and around 75 percent of world exports. Production in MY 2022/23 is forecast higher year-over-year at 680,000 MT. By comparison, MinAF is predicting production will reach 760,000 MT during this period, but market sources believe this number is too high.
The forecasted increase in production in MY 2022/23 is largely based on improved yields resulting from favorable weather conditions. Continued farmer training on how to trim, manage, and tend trees will also contribute to higher yields. According to the Ordu Agriculture & Forestry Directorate, properly trained farmers can see their yields double.
Most years, the Turkish Grain Board (TMO) purchases and stores hazelnuts on behalf of the Turkish government. In July of this year, the President of Turkey announced the official purchase price that TMO will pay for hazelnuts. The purchase price for Giresun quality hazelnuts is 53 TL/kg, almost double from last year. The purchase price for the Levant quality hazelnuts is 52 TL/kg, nearly double from a year ago. Growers book appointments online to sell their hazelnuts to TMO. TMO pays the grower 21-days after receiving the hazelnuts in its warehouse. Growers are reportedly having a hard time booking appointments via the online system, with the earliest appointments available in November.
This delay in arranging appointments is causing some producers to sell their hazelnuts to private traders who pay less. Meantime, in addition to TMO, the Union of Hazelnut Agriculture Sales Cooperatives (FISKOBIRLIK) sometimes purchases and stores hazelnuts to help keep domestic prices stable.
The largest single buyer of Turkish hazelnuts is Italy’s Ferrero Hazelnut Company, the owner of the Nutella brand. Ferraro is the biggest hazelnut trader in Turkey, buying about one-third of Turkey’s annual hazelnut export volumes. Ferraro’s announced purchase price is slightly lower than the TMO rate at 48 TL/kg. Given this purchase price difference, middlemen buy from growers at 43-45 TL/kg and then turn around and sell at a profit to Ferrero.
Approximately half of Turkey’s hazelnut exports are handled by international companies, such as Ferrero. According to a farmers’ union in Ordu, which is one of the main hazelnut growing areas in the country, the average cost to produce a kilogram of hazelnuts is 50TL which is below is below the purchase price paid by the government and private buyers. Consequently, many farmers will reportedly be unable to make a profit and may even lose money. In line with this claim, an opposition party leader criticized the GoT for supporting Ferraro at the expense of local producers, noting that this would change under new leadership. Given its economic importance, hazelnut policy issues tend to attract significant political attention.
Although hazelnuts are grown in more than 48 provinces around Turkey, production is primarily concentrated along Turkey’s Black Sea coast. Hazelnut orchards are typically located within 30 km of the coast. In the western Black Sea region, the growing region starts at Zonguldak (east of Istanbul on the Black Sea coast) and extends east along the entire Black Sea and the mountains until close to the Georgian border. There are approximately 500,000 producers and 4 million people directly or indirectly employed by hazelnut production in Turkey on an area of around 725,000 hectares.
Hazelnuts require relatively little effort to cultivate and input requirements are low. However, with better maintenance, the yield efficiency of Turkish hazelnut orchards could easily be improved. Due to socio-economic reasons, Turkish hazelnut orchards are not well maintained, and the trees are aged with some orchards dating back 70 years. Turkish hazelnuts usually mature between early and late August.
USDA/October 03, 2022
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