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Local hazelnuts enter new markets

11 December 2018 10:10 (UTC+04:00)
Local hazelnuts enter new markets

By Leman Mammadova

Azerbaijan is known as one of the few countries in the world enjoying favorable climate conditions suitable for hazelnut growing.

The hazelnut, especially in the northern regions of the country, fully rippens by the end of July and the harvesting process lasts from mid-August to mid-September. Hazelnut growing is the main source of income for the population in the northwestern regions of Azerbaijan. It is also mainly a family business in Balakan, Zagatala, Qakh, Gabala, Khachmaz, and Shabran regions.

In 2019, Zagatala nuts processing plant plans to export products to the Swiss market, the enterprise told Trend.

Currently the products are exported to Italy and Russia. Presently, the export volume of hazelnuts makes about 1,500 tons per year, in the future it can be increased to 2,800-3,000 tons.

In addition, it was noted that this year the venture has established cooperation with its Italian partners and plans to export products to this country in the future.

As many as 70,000 tons of hazelnuts are expected to be harvested in Azerbaijan by the end of 2018.

In 2016, Ferrero, the world’s largest buyer of hazelnuts, has started purchasing large quantities of Azerbaijan’s hazelnuts. Last year Azerbaijan produced 45,500 tons of hazelnut, which was 32.9 percent more than in 2016. The country exported hazelnuts worth over $100 million in 2017.

Today, Azerbaijan has become the world’s third largest hazelnut producer and exporter. As many as 20,850 tons of hazelnut were exported in 2017. The main markets for the Azerbaijani hazelnut are Italy, Russia and Germany.

Italy ranked first among the importers of hazelnuts, and approximately 9,000 tons of peeled hazelnuts were supplied to this country. Russia took the second place as over 6,000 tons of peeled hazelnuts were supplied there, while Germany became third - more than 3,000 tons of peeled hazelnuts were supplied to this country.

Last year, hazelnut trees were planted in Azerbaijan on an area of 18,000 hectares. Thus, the total area of hazelnut gardens in Azerbaijan has reached 55,000 hectares. The main goal is to bring the figure up to 80,000 hectares.

Several varieties of hazelnuts, such as Atababa, Ashrafli, Ghalib, Ganja, Sachagly, Topgara and Yagly, are cultivated in Azerbaijan. Many of the country's hazelnut orchards are situated in the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains in the regions of Gakh, Zagatala and Balakan.

The hazelnuts produced in Khachmaz region are exported to the Russian Federation, and the hazelnuts produced in Gabala-Oghuz, Gakh-Zagatala and Balakan regions are exported to European countries.

Azerbaijan is trying to expand its export routes and enter new markets.

At exhibitions in Dubai (Gulfood 2017) and Germany (Prowein), where Azerbaijani companies took part in a single stand, orders for exporting hazelnuts to Spain were received.

During the Azerbaijani export mission’s visit to Switzerland preliminary agreements on hazelnut export were reached with Switzerland's GN-company, Varistor and Delica and other influential companies. In the course of the mission, Switzerland agreed to import 220 tons of hazelnuts worth $ 125,000. The total volume of hazelnut export from Azerbaijan to Switzerland was 22 tons in 2017.

Development of the non-oil sector mainly depends on the export of non-oil products and the main goal is to expand access to new markets, besides traditional markets.

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