This year Christmas risks being quite bitter. Panettone, pralines and spreads could cost much more than expected. The reason? A real hazelnut crisis, which is overwhelming the global confectionery supply chain.
The most precious raw material for many symbolic products of Made in Italy is in short supply and costs more and more. It all starts from Türkiye, the world’s leading producer, where climatic conditions and the invasion of a parasite have drastically reduced harvests. A spring frost and the attack of an Asian bug – nicknamed “Sputnik” – compromised the fruit in the Black Sea region, the heart of global production.
According to the Financial Timesthe Turkish yield could drop to less than 500 thousand tons, compared to 600-700 thousand in a normal year. And the scarcity has caused prices to soar: from June to today the value of hazelnuts has doubled, going from 9,000 to over 18,000 dollars per ton. All companies in the sector are affected, from large multinationals to artisan workshops.
Nutella on alert and Ferrero suspends purchases
The giant Ferrero, which alone consumes around a quarter of the world’s hazelnut production to make Nutella, Ferrero Rocher and many other products, has decided to temporarily suspend purchases in Türkiye. In fact, the costs requested by local traders are too high.
To deal with the emergency, the Alba company is drawing on its stocks and strengthening supplies in other countries, such as Chile and the United States, where it has started new plantations in recent years.
The situation is made even more complex by the decline in the harvest also in Italy, where the Tonda Gentile delle Langhe hazelnut – the one used for the most prized lines – has suffered a 60% collapse due to the unstable climate and plant diseases. In Piedmont, some farmers are even converting hazelnut groves into vineyards, crushed by excessively high costs and increasingly reduced margins.
And the gianduiotto risks becoming a luxury
The crisis is also affecting Piedmont’s master chocolatiers, custodians of the famous gianduiotto. This historic chocolate, born in Turin in the mid-nineteenth century and made with Piedmont cocoa and hazelnuts, risks becoming a niche product.
In recent months, the price of shelled hazelnuts has risen from 13 to 20 euros per kilo, while cocoa has recorded an increase of 220% in three years.
Inevitably there will be adjustments to final consumer prices. But we cannot transfer all the costs, otherwise we will go out of the market, into the extra-luxury sector,” chocolatier Guido Castagna, president of the Gianduiotto PGI Torino Committee, explained to Corriere della Sera.
The price increases, combined with the difficulty of finding quality raw materials, put one of the most beloved traditions of Italian Christmas at risk. And if Ferrero can count on a global supply chain, small artisanal producers fear they won’t be able to handle the impact.
A dearer Christmas
Between speculation, climate crisis and skyrocketing costs, the hazelnut is today at the center of an emergency that affects the entire chocolate chain. From gianduiotti to jars of Nutella, every product that contains even just a part of it could be affected by significant increases in the coming weeks.
