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Hazelnuts: Imports fail to cool off local price spikes

October 12, 2017 at 8:47 AM , Starry Night Ltd.
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SOFIA. The smaller orchards have already depleted their stocks. Local end clients do not shun the high price, preferring to focus on taste and crispness instead.

BULGARIA. Local farmers compete regionally, demanding high price for exclusive quality nuts, while importers compete nationwide, setting low prices.

Hazelnuts: Local prices do not flinch under foreign competition

The majority of farmers have collected the nut and are already selling. Prices of organic kernels, mixed, start at 11.10 EUR/kg EXW Bulgaria and in some regions, prices reach as high as 12.50 EUR/kg. When farmers have collected only a few metric tons of kernels to dispose of on the market, and all other local competitors sell at similar levels, such offers are not shunned by domestic end clients. After all, organic nuts have always commanded a higher premium than their conventional counterparts do.

Failing to satisfy local demand on a yearly basis

This year, output is stronger and the quality of the nut is higher than those of the previous one, but local supply remains too weak to satisfy local demand. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, harvested acreages of hazelnuts in 2016 reached 544 ha, with an estimated average yield of 4.1 mt/ha. An output of 223 mt in shell during harvest 2016-17 barely scratched the needs of the local market.

Indeed, according to bigger local farmers, the majority of it most probably could have never been marketed since last year, the hazelnut, although faring better than its counterpart – the walnut, was not so well matured due to adverse weather conditions, and buyers exercised much caution when buying in shell. Once broken, not all kernels could be sold. This year, local farmers have realized better quality produce, but they continue to be enclosed within the limits of their small outputs and sell locally; nationally, they could not compete with imported hazelnuts because of lower prices; yet, they do not need to. Once again, imports from Turkey will rule the domestic market.

Organic hazelnuts, Bulgaria

Type

EUR/kg

in shell

3.60

natural kernels 9-11

11.10

natural kernels 11-13

11.10

natural kernels 13-15

11.10

EXW Bulgaria
   

 Hazelnuts, Bulgaria

Type

EUR/kg

in shell

2.60

natural kernels 9-11

8.10

natural kernels 11-13

8.10

natural kernels 13-15

8.10

EXW Bulgaria

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