A Ferrero Rocher shortage is feared this Christmas after a poor nut harvest.
Hazelnut crop levels are lower than usual in Turkey, the world’s largest producer of the nut, thanks to poor weather conditions and damage from insects.
Experts have warned this is likely to send prices soaring and cause shortages in the run up to the festive season, when sales of Ferrero Rocher usually boom. Ferrero, which makes Nutella spread as well as the velvet chocolate balls, purchases a quarter of the world’s hazelnuts.
The Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has placed this year’s crop size at 718,000 tonnes, which would be down around 13 per cent compared to last year, but traders have suggested it might be as low as 620,000 tonnes.
Jara Zicha, a senior analyst at market research firm Mintec, told The Grocer: “The price increase is indeed driven by shorter-than-expected production in Turkey.
Surging prices
“The initial estimates from May/June this year came in at 720,000 to 810,000 tonnes. When the harvest started, farmers started report[ing] much lower output, which has caused prices in Turkey to surge.”
He added: “If the high prices were to stay, we could see some packers trying to substitute hazelnuts out of nut mixes.”
Swaroop Joshi, from hazelnut supplier Ofi, admitted that: “This year’s harvest of hazelnuts in Turkey has resulted in slightly lower seasonal yields than expected”, which “has in turn resulted in higher prices”.
Kenan İncirkuş, a trader from Giresun, Turkey, told Mintec “there are very few hazelnuts this year” thanks to “the effects of global warming, insect damage and, in particular, a lack of rainfall during the critical nut development period in May”.
Food inflation
It could spell bad news for those who do manage to get their hands on Ferrero Rocher or Nutella this Christmas, as the prices of sugar and cocoa - the other key ingredients - have also spiked.
The latest feared shortages come after Christmas shoppers were warned of scarce turkey supplies last year thanks to bird flu and crippling costs in the poultry industry.
Quality Street was also forced to remove green and orange foil wrappers from some tins thanks to a shortage of the material last November.
The Telegraph has contacted Ferrero for comment.
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