Newberg-based Willamette Hazelnut Growers expect a recent price rebound to continue due to healthy demand domestically and globally for the tasty crop.
“I believe we’re getting back to a new normal,” Terry Ross, executive director of the Hazelnut Growers Bargaining Association, said. The organization recently struck the price agreement with several Oregon hazelnut packers.
Although Oregon’s acreage isn’t big enough to impact hazelnut prices on the world scale, growers are regaining the premium that’s historically been associated with the state’s crop, Ross said.
As the supply and demand outlook for hazelnuts solidifies over fall and winter, this year’s crop will likely end up “profitable to highly profitable” when final prices are set next spring, he added.
The 2024 harvest in Turkey — the world’s largest hazelnut producer — wasn’t as bountiful as expected, with stinkbug damage degrading quality in some regions. Meanwhile, production problems are expected to result in small yields in Italy, another major global supplier.