By Rosalie Hagglund

Welcome back to our series on the hazelnut market. In part one, we explored the U. S. Hazelnut market. Today, we’re diving into the global hazelnut market and looking to answer the following questions:

·Who are the top producers?
Which of the top producers are the most efficient?
What are the grower prices for each of these countries and how does the U. S. rank against these other countries?
Who are the top exporters and who is getting paid the most for their exports?
Who are the top importers and who is paying the most for their hazelnuts?
Whose imports are increasing and whose imports are decreasing?

The data for this post is from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. We’re using metric tons, hectares, the calendar year (as opposed to crop year), and U. S. Dollars. It is important to keep in mind that the FAO data is reported in U. S. Dollars and, due to fluidity in currency exchange rates is dependent on the specific date the data is reported.

Production

As shown in our previous post, the top five hazelnut producing countries are Türkiye, Italy, Azerbaijan, the U. S., and Chile. Turkey is the largest producer accounting for a 5-year average of 63.53% of the world’s hazelnut production. Italy is a distance second with a 5-year average of 10.64% of the world’s hazelnut production. The chart below shows the 20-year production history for the top five hazelnut producers. The table below the chart shows the 10-year hazelnut production market share by percentage for those same countries.

Indexed Percentage of Production

Chile showed the largest increase in market share over the past 20 years. Going from a meager 0.03% of the world’s hazelnut production in 2003, to 5.23% in 2022. Of these top 5 countries, Italy has seen the biggest drop in market share with 32% decrease in the past 20 years; much of that within the past 10 years.

Yield

Yield is measured as production per hectare. It is a way to measure efficiency and is vital to the profitability of a hazelnut orchard. The U. S. has the highest yield per hectare of the top 5 hazelnut producing countries and Türkiye the lowest. Despite the biennial producing nature of the hazelnut tree, which can be seen in the alternating yield peaks, Azerbaijan has shown very little variation in yield from year-to-year. The U. S. yield per hectare has dropped 16% over the past 20 years as older orchards have diminished in productivity and new orchard plantings have not yet reached maximum production. Chile’s yield per hectare has increased due to their rapid expansion in new plantings and production.

Grower Price

Grower price per metric ton is one way to examine income. Chile’s grower prices are not available on the FAO data site and thus not included in this section. Of the remaining top 4 hazelnut producing countries, Türkiye and Italy’s growers have received the most USD per metric ton. 2022 showed a sharp decline for U. S. growers. In part one, we discussed the reasoning behind this and the turnaround in the unofficial 2023 grower pricing. In the past 20 years, Italy’s growers have seen the largest increase in USD/MT with a 230% increase. The U. S. grower price has increased 126% in that same time. However, the unofficial 2023 U. S. grower prices have the 2003-2023 growth at closer to 210%.

Income Per Hectare

To come to a more comprehensive view of grower prices, we factored yield and pricing together to arrive at grower income per hectare. The following chart shows that U. S. yield per hectare has offset its weakened grower price per metric ton.

Exports

Top 10 Exporters

Türkiye is the largest exporter of hazelnuts by value and by volume. In 2022, Türkiye had 54% of the world hazelnut exports by value and 55% of the world hazelnut exports by volume. In comparison, the U. S. had 8% of the 2022 world hazelnut exports by value and 8% of the 2022 world hazelnut exports by volume. The chart below shows the top 10 hazelnut exporters by value.

Exports - In-Shell vs Shelled (kernel)

With hazelnuts, it’s especially important to distinguish between in-shell and shelled (kernel) when analyzing data. While the U. S. only accounted for 8% of the total 2022 world hazelnut exports by volume, it traded 48% of the in-shell hazelnut market exports by volume and 51% of the in-shell hazelnut exports by value. While the U. S. Hazelnut market is adapting to the kernel (shelled) market, it is important to note the U. S.’s prominence in the in-shell export market. As we examine the export $/MT, it’s also important to keep in mind the kernel to in-shell weight ratio. Each variety will have a slightly different ratio. The 5-year average kernel to in-shell weight ratio in the U. S. was 40%. Put simply, each metric ton of U. S. shelled hazelnuts has approximately 60% more nuts than a metric ton of U. S. in-shell hazelnuts. For the past 5 years, U. S. in-shell export $/MT has averaged 49.20% of the U. S. shelled (kernel) export $/MT. Looking at it from a net kernel weight perspective, this means the in-shell export market is currently the more lucrative of the two. However, U. S. In-Shell export $/MT have only risen 221% over the past 20 years in comparison to the 390% increase in $/MT for U. S. Shelled (kernel) exports.

Exports - Price Per Metric Ton (Weighted Average)

We used a weighted average to analyze the combined (shelled and in-shell) $/MT for the top 10 exporters. In 2022, Italy received the most ($7,794.32/MT) and Georgia the least ($4,389.65/MT). Over the past 20 years, Chile has seen the largest gains in $/MT (up 425%), followed by the U. S. (up 290%). France was the only country who lost value on $/MT exports in that same time (down 5.5%).

Imports

Top 10 Importers

In 2022, Germany was the largest importer of hazelnuts by value (24.42%) and Italy was the largest importer by volume (22.85%). It’s important to note that Italy is the second largest producer, the second largest exporter, and the second largest importer of hazelnuts. We will explore this in greater detail in part three of our series. Of the top importers, Canada saw the largest gains in the past 20 years; increasing 701% in hazelnut imports by volume and 190% in hazelnut imports by value. Switzerland saw the largest decrease in imports by volume (down 16%). Belgium had one of the largest and perhaps most surprising decreases in hazelnut imports. In 2003, Belgium was the 5th largest importer of hazelnuts by value and by volume. In 2022, they were 13th in volume and 12th in value, showing a decrease of 78% in volume in that time.

Imports – In-Shell vs Shelled (kernel)

Of the top hazelnut importers, Canada paid the most for in-shell hazelnuts with a 5-year average of $7,641.56/MT and China paid the most for shelled (kernel) with a 5-year average of $8,980.32/MT.

Imports – Price Per Metric Ton (Weighted Average)

Once again, we used a weighted average to analyze the combined (shelled and in-shell) USD paid per metric ton for the top 10 hazelnut importers. In 2022, Brazil paid the most ($8,730.57/MT) and China the least ($3,693.15/MT). Over the past 20 years, Russia saw the largest increase in USD paid per metric ton (up 762%). Italy saw the smallest increase in USD paid per metric ton in that same time (up 156%).

Global Hazelnut Market

Now that we’ve identified the key players and data in the global hazelnut market, we can start to explore how they fit together. Where are the largest importers sourcing their hazelnuts? Which trade partnership is the most profitable? How do Türkiye’s economic and social policies affect the global hazelnut market? Why is Italy a top producer, a top importer, and a top exporter? It’s been reported that Italian company Ferraro purchases over 25% of the world’s hazelnuts. How (and where) are they investing in the future development of hazelnuts? Join us for part three as we look to answer these questions and more.

US Competitiveness in the Global Hazelnut Market in Charts