2026 Oregon hazelnut initial prices drop amid market \u2018chaos\u2019<\/p>\n
Published 2:30 pm Tuesday, September 29, 2026<\/p>\n
With the global hazelnut market in \u201ccomplete chaos,\u201d processors and farmers in Oregon have negotiated a lower initial price for this year\u2019s crop than they received last year.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s crop.<\/p>\n
Though the guaranteed prices have fallen since 2025, experts say there\u2019s still a chance for farmers to receive more for their hazelnuts as the global market sorts itself out over the fall and winter.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe feel an opportunity for a good upside as our processors maximize the Oregon premium,\u201d said Terry Ross, executive director of the Hazelnut Growers Bargaining Association, which negotiates prices.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s crop.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve never not paid more,\u201d he said of the initial guaranteed price.. \u201cIt gives them security. They know they can budget around it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The \u201ccomplete chaos\u201d in the market revolves around Turkey, the world\u2019s major hazelnut producer, where a large volume put \u201csteep downward pressure\u201d on prices last month, George said.<\/p>\n
Since then, however, there have been indications the Turkish crop wasn\u2019t as big as originally thought, particularly as rains during harvest have interfered with that country\u2019s outdoor drying process, he said.<\/p>\n
Uncertainty about the quality of Turkish hazelnuts have led to a \u201cbifurcated market\u201d for high quality and low quality hazelnuts, contributing to a \u201cstalemate\u201d among buyers and sellers, George said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody wants to buy unless they need it. Nobody wants to sell unless they have to,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Apart from this year\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got the wind at our back and the wind in our faces,\u201d Ross said.<\/p>\n
The volumes coming out of Italy and Chile are also likely to be smaller than anticipated, also giving Oregon farmers a \u201cbit of a reprieve,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Due to the political power of Turkish hazelnut growers, Turkey\u2019s government is buying up a substantial portion of that country\u2019s crop to boost prices, which has complicated the outlook as well, George said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith so much uncertainty in the market, the real prices for these hazelnuts won\u2019t be set until spring,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In the past, when much of Oregon\u2019s hazelnuts were shipped in-shell to China, prices would become settled sooner than they have recently, George said.<\/p>\n
The proportion sold in-shell to China represents just a small fraction of what Oregon now produces, as the state\u2019s hazelnuts are shelled and shipped over the course of the entire year, he said.<\/p>\n
Not only is China a smaller destination for Oregon\u2019s crop, but the amount of hazelnuts grown in the state has expanded significantly, said Ross.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have that option anymore. We\u2019re a substantially larger production area than that now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"2026 Oregon hazelnut initial prices drop amid market \u2018chaos\u2019 Published 2:30 pm Tuesday, September 29, 2026 With the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":865254,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,451,3,452,453],"class_list":["post-865253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=865253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/865254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=865253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=865253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=865253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}