Nut Talk

Gov't Sets Base Hazelnut Prices as 4 YTL per Kilo By Cihan News Agency Thursday, September 07, 2006
Turkish government has revealed the base price of hazelnut prices as four New Turkish Liras (YTL), ca. $2.75, per kilo.
Turkish Minister of Agriculture Mehdi Eker on Wednesday announced that the Agricultural Products Office (TMO) would purchase hazelnuts produced by Turkish farmers at a rate of 4 YTL ($2.75) per kilo as of September 11.
Eker went on to say that there would be no purchasing limits, adding that half of the payments would be made in advance and the other half would be transferred to growers’ bank accounts in 15 days.
The hazelnut problem has been at the top of the agenda in Turkey for over a month. Hazelnut producers held protests late in July when the Hazelnut Agricultural Cooperative Association (Fiskobirlik) failed to pay them on time, and also due to the huge hazelnut surplus that has adversely affected prices.
On July 30, tens of thousands of Turkish farmers demonstrated in the northeastern Black Sea city of Ordu, one of the main hazelnut producing areas in Turkey, to protest the policy adopted by the government against hazelnut producers.
In 2005, Turkey, which is the world's main producer of hazelnuts, broke its all-time record for hazelnut export revenues with earnings of 1 billion 932 million dollars.
Hazelnut crops in Turkey cover an area of 700,000 hectares which produce a harvest of around 550 thousand tons.
Turkey produces 70 percent of the world's hazelnuts exporting them to around 80 countries, with the US in particular being a significant importer