70% of the world’s hazelnuts are produced in Türkiye. And what happens when the exporting country’s currency weakens while prices continue to climb? Well, production becomes more expensive and, therefore, the products that we find in the supermarket, too. And what is one of the star products that has this dried fruit as its main ingredient? Right, the Nutella.
So far this year, the Turkish lira has lost more than 40% against the dollar due to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s economic plan, which has led Turkey’s central bank to intervene to try after successive announcements of price cuts. rates to -he says- control inflation.
The lira’s nosedive has trickled down to the Turkish hazelnut industry. The higher cost of fertilizers (their price has almost tripled this year to $650 a ton), imported seeds, pesticides and other basic products needed to maintain production, together with the increase in the price of energy or transport, they have a little hopeful drift for this market.
The producers, if they have not already closed, are increasingly impoverished and with less production capacity. In fact, they fear losing market share to Italy, Georgia, the United States and other producing countries. And the operations that continue to go ahead have weakened due to the volatility of the exchange rate, which makes them lose weight with buyers.
Ferrero, the Italian company that owns Nutella, buys around a third of Turkey’s hazelnut exports. Although the company has not commented so far on the repercussion they expect, industry leaders do translate the drop in the supply of hazelnuts into a rise in prices for consumers, reports the Wall Street Journal. One of them, Turgan Zülfikar, a New York-based consultant to Turkish companies, says that “the world is on the verge of a hazelnut shortage” and advises “fans of the famous cocoa spread to stock up on jars of Nutella for avoid scares.
Turkey’s currency crisis broke out in November after Erdogan ordered interest rate cuts. different leaders of the central bank and all those senior government officials who got in the way of his economic strategy, whose last chapter involves compensating Turkish savers, the lira shot up 50% in two days.
Facebook Comments
Disqus