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Hazelnuts: lira takes centre stage

October 18, 2021 at 11:21 AM , Der AUDITOR
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ORDU. Turkey’s hazelnut market was plunged into chaos again after the lira recently slumped to new lows against the euro and US dollar. Disaster struck after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan fired three central bank policy makers, who are claimed to have opposed last month’s interest rate cut. Concern is that more interest rate cuts will follow despite inflation being high, possibly even this week as the next policy meeting will be held on Thursday.

Wide price gaps

Turkey’s unreasonable monetary policy is, however, not the only problem. Quality is an issue and prices differ widely, especially for processed nuts. Although good weather conditions in recent days have helped harvesting along with more arrivals pouring in, reports are still being issued over quality concerns. Prices have also drifted further apart with traders reporting that Giresun quality natural hazelnuts, size 11-13 mm, are trading as low as USD 5.80/kg and Levant quality, size 11-13 mm, at USD 5.75/kg CIF Hamburg.

The 3.5% slump in the Turkish lira has indeed prompted a decline in export prices, albeit to not quite an extent as may have been expected. Issue is that raw material prices have risen slightly and range much higher than last year. Raw hazelnut kernels, 11-13 mm are, for instance, trading firm at TRY 48.50/kg in the domestic market. The attractive prices have, nevertheless, persuaded some buyers, who had been waiting for weeks, to act.

Hazelnuts, Turkey

Size

EUR/kg

Natural, 11-13 mm, DDP Central Europe 

5.50

Raw, 11-13 mm, CIF Hamburg

5.20

Raw, 13-15 mm, CIF Hamburg

5.30

Organic, 11-13 mm, CFR Hamburg

6.20

Trade sources, prompt shipment

Export prices set to rise

On top of this, the TMO has continued buying unabated by recent events. The state-run organisation had purchased around 60,000 mt by the end of last week and is certainly on course to meet the target of 100,000 mt. Traders reckon hat export prices will rise as carrying capacities are becoming more of an issue and costs are up.

 

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