Following a decision to halt its hazelnut sales in August in a bid to maintain price stability in the market, the Soil Products Office (TMO) is planning to restart sales in the new year. The office, in this regard, is monitoring the latest market developments.

The office announced in August that it would not intervene in the market by selling hazelnuts until January 2010. The TMO, which currently has 480,477 tons of hazelnuts in reserve, will decide whether to restart sales, in line with market developments.

Producers and dealers currently comment that the TMO’s recent move to curb speculation has been successful as prices are hovering around “fair levels.” According to latest reports, Turkey’s hazelnut exports in the first three months of the export season, which kicks off on Sept. 1 every year, declined to 83,486 tons from 112,255 tons in the same period of 2008. Hazelnut exporters earned $509 million in the months of September, October and November of this year. Producers currently are holding an estimated 100,000 tons of hazelnuts in reserve.

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