14 September 2018•Update: 17 September 2018
By Atakan Citlak
GIRESUN, Turkey
Germany was the top customer for Turkish hazelnuts, importing nearly 70,000 tons in the 2018 season, according to the Black Sea Hazelnut and Products Exporters' Union (KFMIB) data.
Germany has remained at the spot on a list of the biggest Turkish hazelnut importers for the past nine years, data compiled by Anadolu Agency showed.
The country earned some $424.9 million from hazelnut exports to Germany in the September 2017-August 2018 cultivation season.
Italy and France followed Germany with over 57,000 tons and 20,000 tons, respectively.
Overall, around 75 percent of Turkey's hazelnut exports were made to the EU countries, amounting to around $1.3 billion.
The country exported nearly 287,000 tons of hazelnuts to 119 countries during the export season, making a $1.78 billion revenue.
The export volume between September 2017 and August 2018 saw a 21.6 percent jump in the same period from a year earlier.
Edip Sevinc, chairman of the KFMIB, said that export figures met exporters' expectations.
"Rise in hazelnut exports on a basis of tonnage, as an indication of Turkish hazelnut's consumption in external markets, is hopeful," he told Anadolu Agency.
*Gokhan Ergocun in Ankara contributed to this story
