New-crop hazelnut prices hit records in parts of Trabzon as 2026 harvest reaches market

New-crop hazelnut prices in Trabzon, one of the main production and trading centres on Turkey's eastern Black Sea coast, moved sharply higher this week as the 2026 harvest reached the market. According to Haber Expres, free-market quotes collected across the province and updated at 08:31 on Thursday, 24 September 2026, showed pronounced differences between districts, with some locations reaching record levels.

Turkish trade quotes hazelnuts by commercial type. The three tracked in the Trabzon data are Tombul, Levant — also known as Çakıldak — and the thin-shelled Sivri, or Yerli. Growers who have finished post-harvest drying and put the crop into storage are following trader and exchange bids closely.

District quotes split by more than 20 lira

In the provincial centre, 2026 new-crop Tombul found buyers at 175.00 lira per kilogram, Levant traded at 172.00 lira and Sivri at 166.00 lira, Haber Expres reported. Across the districts the spread was considerably wider:

• Vakfıkebir: Tombul at 189.00 lira per kilogram, the highest figure recorded in the province; Levant at 174.00 lira; Sivri at 184.00 lira
• Araklı: Tombul 175.00 lira, Levant 170.00 lira, Sivri 165.00 lira
• Arsin: Tombul 174.00 lira, Levant 170.00 lira, Sivri 164.00 lira
• Yomra: Tombul 173.50 lira, Levant 169.00 lira, Sivri 164.50 lira
• Akçaabat: Tombul 168.00 lira, Levant 162.75 lira, Sivri 156.00 lira

On Tombul alone, the distance between Vakfıkebir and Akçaabat came to 21.00 lira per kilogram, about 12.5% above the lower quote. Vakfıkebir was also the only district in the sample where Sivri, at 184.00 lira, was bid above Levant.

National averages and the two ends of the market

Across Turkey as a whole, the weighted free-market average was calculated at 172.44 lira per kilogram for Tombul, 163.97 lira for Levant and 164.80 lira for Sivri, according to the same market summary. The highest bids seen anywhere in the country during the day were 190.00 lira for Tombul, 185.00 lira for Levant and 183.50 lira for Sivri. Eynesil recorded the day's peak in both Tombul and Levant, while the highest Sivri price was seen in Tirebolu.

The lowest purchase values of the day were registered in the Kandıra region at 140.24 lira for Tombul, 128.24 lira for Levant and 134.49 lira for Sivri. For Tombul that leaves a national high-to-low range of 49.76 lira per kilogram, with the top bid roughly 35% above the bottom. The summary describes a clear upward trend in Tombul and Levant, while thin-shelled Sivri is moving sideways — which is why the national Levant average currently sits marginally below the Sivri average.

Yield, moisture and oil content explain the gap

The price gap between districts and regions stems largely from kernel yield, moisture level and the oil quality of the nut, the report said. Tombul lots with an oil content of 54% or more are the first priority for exporters and chocolate manufacturers, and those lots trade at the top of the free market. That link matters beyond Trabzon: Turkey is the main origin supplying the international confectionery industry, and kernel quality determines which lots reach export contracts rather than the domestic paste and snack trade.

Growers hold stock as costs rise

Faced with higher production costs, producers across Trabzon are in some cases choosing to keep the crop in storage rather than bring it to market immediately, waiting for prices they consider adequate, Haber Expres reported. Free-market traders, for their part, are warning sellers to dry the crop properly and not to deliver nuts with high moisture content.

Taking into account both domestic buying competition and currency-driven shifts in international demand, prices in Trabzon and neighbouring provinces are expected to keep their upward momentum in the coming days, the report concluded.