AFP, Istanbul :
Fans of chocolate spread Nutella or the hazelnut-filled Ferrero Rocher could soon be facing rising bills for their nutty treats because of poor weather in Turkey.
Prices of hazelnuts have surged in recent weeks after cold late winter weather and bitter frosts caused a poor harvest in the nut’s chief exporter Turkey.
The rise has been so sharp it risks driving up the prices of popular consumer products like chocolate spreads or nut-filled chocolate bars.
Half of Turkey’s exports go to Germany and Italy, the headquarters of the Italian giant Ferrero, which owns brands like Nutella and Kinder and is the world’s largest buyer of hazelnuts.
Ferrero said in a widely-reported statement that it was “tracking this issue closely and there’s no foreseeable impact on the availability of Nutella”.
It may seem strange that the price of Nutella could be the victim of a cold snap on Turkey’s Black Sea coast, which is the hub of the country’s hazelnut industry.
