Turkey.. Leader in Hazelnuts in the World
Turkey meets 71 percent of the global hazelnut production and 74 percent of the global exports with its annual production of 800,000 tons.
The Black Sea region is the most convenient place for hazelnut production in its main land of Anatolia.
As of today, three cities in this region alone make the 40 percent of global hazelnut production.
Turkey started to supply the world markets with Anatolian hazelnut in 1780 when its export markets were limited to Europe and the US.
Now it exports to more than 100 countries. Turkey continues to control the supplies in the global hazelnut markets despite the increase in production in Italy and the US in line with the rising global demand.
In 1970s, 90 percent of Turkish hazelnut exports consisted of inshell hazelnuts and natural kernels, while today the share of processed hazelnuts in Turkish exports is 43 percent.
The total export volume of hazelnuts has exceeded USD 1 billion since the mid-2000s from USD 500 million in 1990s.
The major targets of the industry include increasing chocolate consumption, decreasing excessive hazelnut supplies and widening the export markets beyond Europe, the largest export market.
BUSINESS TURKEY TODAY
