The USDA recently published its 2023/24 hazelnut production estimate for Turkey, pegging the size of the crop at 600,000 tonnes. This is less than Mintec heard from unofficial channels in the past several weeks and lower than the 718,000 tonnes the Turkish Union of Chambers of Agriculture projected before the start of the harvest in Turkey in the second half of August.
The decline in production has been primarily caused by adverse dry weather during the critical nut development stage in late spring.
Last month, Ferrero, the largest hazelnut buyer, reportedly offered to pay TRY 80/kg for the new hazelnut crop. In comparison, the Turkish Grain Board (TMO) in-shell purchasing prices for hazelnuts have been set at TRY 84/kg for Giresun quality, TRY 82.50/kg for Levant quality, and TRY 80/kg for Sivri quality hazelnuts, a significant increase from the previous campaign. In the last week of September, the TMO announced that it was pausing any further hazelnut sales until December this year.
The Mintec Benchmark Prices for Turkish hazelnuts (Levant quality 11-13mm, fob Turkey) fell by 1% w-o-w in the week of 5th October to $770/100KG after the market previously rallied between the second week of August and the third week of September due to supply concerns.
Some market sources recently commented on muted buying interest due to the high prices.
