Hazelnuts are a category where the origin is rarely in question. Türkiye supplies around 70% of the world's crop from its Black Sea coast and is the largest exporter, so for most buyers the interesting decisions start after origin: which form, which calibre, which packaging, and what the documentation has to show. Buyers who treat "hazelnut kernels" as one product pay for processing they do not need or receive a form their line cannot use.
Where supply stands
The 2025/26 crop was damaged by spring frost, most severely in Ordu and Giresun, and came in at around 528,000 tonnes in-shell — roughly 22% below the previous year. Exports for the period from September 2025 to May 2026 reflected that: about 150,600 tonnes, against 260,143 tonnes in the same months a year earlier. Global supply fell as a result.
The 2026/27 crop is forecast to recover strongly. The International Nut and Dried Fruit Council estimated it at around 810,000 tonnes, an increase of more than 50% over the frost-hit season, and the Black Sea exporters' association put it close to the same figure. For a buyer, that means a supply picture that is loosening after a tight year — and a reminder that this is an agricultural product with a weather-driven cycle, not a warehouse commodity.
Natural kernels keep their thin brown skin. Blanched kernels have had it removed by heat and abrasion, leaving a pale, smooth nut. Roasted kernels — with or without skin — have been heat-treated for flavour and crunch. Diced or granulated kernels are cut to graded piece sizes. Paste is milled, usually from roasted kernels, to a smooth spreadable consistency.
These are not five grades of one product. They are five products, each with its own processing, shelf life, packaging requirement and price, made from a common raw material.
Natural kernels belong in retail packs and in products where the skin's slightly bitter, earthy note is wanted. Blanched kernels go into chocolate, bakery and confectionery, where skin fragments would show and the flavour is meant to be clean. Roasted kernels are for products where roasted flavour is the point. Diced kernels serve inclusions, toppings and bars, where piece size is a specified parameter. Paste feeds spreads, fillings, ice cream and industrial confectionery.
The common error runs in both directions: ordering natural kernels for a chocolate line and paying to blanch them again, or ordering roasted kernels for a product that will be baked, and roasting them twice.
Roasting starts the clock
Natural kernels, cool and dry, keep for a long time. Roasting changes that. The heat that develops flavour also starts oxidation of the nut's oil, and roasted kernels and paste have a markedly shorter shelf life as a result. They need barrier packaging — vacuum or gas-flushed for anything that will not be used quickly — and a realistic view of how fast the stock will turn.
A buyer who orders roasted product into a slow-moving position will meet rancidity well before the nominal shelf life ends. The form decision and the stock-turn assumption have to be made together.
What the specification carries
Form, stated. Calibre, as a size band, for whole kernels; piece size, for diced. Roast level, where relevant. Moisture. Packaging, with barrier requirements tied to the form. And the aflatoxin and quality analysis, with parameters set against the destination market and the certificate ready before the pallet moves — because in this category the first question at the border is about the document, not the nut.
TeraVella works in nuts as a sourcing partner — we do not claim to own an orchard, a cracking plant or a roasting line. We verify a producer against your brief, fix form, calibre, roast level and packaging in writing, collect batch aflatoxin and quality analyses before shipment, and manage bulk, vacuum or retail packing under your own brand. We hold ISO 9001, ISO 22000 and ISO 27001 and make no organic or other certification claim. Volumes and prices are confirmed at quotation.
