As EastFruit’s readers should know, Turkey has a substantial amount of unsold hazelnuts stocked. TMO, a governmental body, which buys and sells hazelnuts from the open market in order to regulate prices, has now turned to selling the stocks. This move is the right one for the exporters, but they are not okay with the TMO prices.
According to Mundus-Agri, TMO will start selling on Monday, 23 thsd tons is the volume to be sold. Interesting comparison: considering preliminary statistics by GeoStat, this is 70% of Georgia’s total production in 2022. The decision to sell is welcomed because Turkey has large volumes of stocks. If significant amounts of them remain unsold, they will likely put negative pressure on the prices in the next season.
However, there are some issues. TMO will sell a kilogram from TRY 65/kg ($2.76) to TRY 68/kg ($2.89). If we assume a 50% yield, then in kernels, TMO’s prices range between $5.52-$5.78/kg. The Turkish exporters, of course, will have to add their margins to these prices. The exporters are reported to be furious. TMO’s prices may be way over what they expected. In May 2023, Georgia exported hazelnut kernels for $5.50/kg.
Given the recent fall of the Lira and high levels of nut prices, the Turkish hazelnut market is said to be paralyzed at the moment.
