2026 Oregon hazelnut initial prices drop amid market ‘chaos’
Published 2:30 pm Tuesday, September 29, 2026
With the global hazelnut market in “complete chaos,” processors and farmers in Oregon have negotiated a lower initial price for this year’s crop than they received last year.
Growers will be paid at least 75 cents to 90 cents per pound of hazelnuts produced in 2026, depending on the variety, down from a range of $1.05 to $1.30 per pound for last year’s crop.
Though the guaranteed prices have fallen since 2025, experts say there’s still a chance for farmers to receive more for their hazelnuts as the global market sorts itself out over the fall and winter.
“We feel an opportunity for a good upside as our processors maximize the Oregon premium,” said Terry Ross, executive director of the Hazelnut Growers Bargaining Association, which negotiates prices.
In the past, growers have received anywhere from 2 cents to $1 per pound more for their hazelnuts above the guaranteed initial price, said Larry George, who owns several processors who buy roughly two-thirds of the state’s crop.
“We’ve never not paid more,” he said of the initial guaranteed price.. “It gives them security. They know they can budget around it.”
The “complete chaos” in the market revolves around Turkey, the world’s major hazelnut producer, where a large volume put “steep downward pressure” on prices last month, George said.
Since then, however, there have been indications the Turkish crop wasn’t as big as originally thought, particularly as rains during harvest have interfered with that country’s outdoor drying process, he said.
Uncertainty about the quality of Turkish hazelnuts have led to a “bifurcated market” for high quality and low quality hazelnuts, contributing to a “stalemate” among buyers and sellers, George said.
“Nobody wants to buy unless they need it. Nobody wants to sell unless they have to,” he said.
Apart from this year’s harvest rains, Turkish growers have continued contending with stinkbug damage that has cast further doubt on the quality of their crop, said Ross of HGBA.
As a result, the large overall volume of hazelnuts tends to put downward pressure on prices, but high quality hazelnuts are still likely to command a premium, he said.
“We’ve got the wind at our back and the wind in our faces,” Ross said.
The volumes coming out of Italy and Chile are also likely to be smaller than anticipated, also giving Oregon farmers a “bit of a reprieve,” he said.
Due to the political power of Turkish hazelnut growers, Turkey’s government is buying up a substantial portion of that country’s crop to boost prices, which has complicated the outlook as well, George said.
“With so much uncertainty in the market, the real prices for these hazelnuts won’t be set until spring,” he said.
In the past, when much of Oregon’s hazelnuts were shipped in-shell to China, prices would become settled sooner than they have recently, George said.
The proportion sold in-shell to China represents just a small fraction of what Oregon now produces, as the state’s hazelnuts are shelled and shipped over the course of the entire year, he said.
Not only is China a smaller destination for Oregon’s crop, but the amount of hazelnuts grown in the state has expanded significantly, said Ross.
“We don’t have that option anymore. We’re a substantially larger production area than that now,” he said.