Brace yourselves, fans of hazelnut-chocolaty bread. Winter is coming. An unseasonable frost in Turkey has producers of the extremely popular spread Nutella quaking in their boots, with many outsiders predicting that either we’ll soon be in the grips of a global shortage of the product, or prices are imminently set to spike.
How is this happening? Turkey just so happens to be the world’s chief producer of hazelnuts, with crops in the country accounting for 70 percent of the world’s supply. The extent of the damage is not yet clear, but it’s been enough for Nutella producer Ferrero to start scrambling to sure up supplies.
The company could turn to hazelnut growers in Oregon, but the supply there is not nearly enough to cover any great shortage from Turkey, even in the short term.
Now, we’re not saying you should bolt to the store and stock up on enough supplies to get you through this terrible time. But if you were to hock your car for quick cash in order to sprint down to Costco immediately and buy a jar the size of a grain silo before it becomes more expensive than gold, well… That certainly wouldn’t be the dumbest decision in the world.
Just sayin’.
Photo: Justin Sullivan via Getty Images.
via SBS News.
