Ukraine to Triple Hazelnut Production in 5 Years. Importers Willing to Pay More for Quality
April 7, 2025
Gals Agro Holding carried out the first export batch of hazelnuts from Ukraine. 40 tons of nuts — the first harvest of a young orchard — were sent to Italy. During the acceptance process, the buyer raised the price from 9 to 10 euros/kg for the clean kernel. The average price for in-shell nuts was 3.45 euros/kg.
This was described by Yevhen Laiter, Chief Agronomist of the Gals Agro hazelnut orchard, in his article for the magazine “Ukrainian Horticulture.”
The main goal was to understand how mechanical, manual, and combined harvesting methods differ and what factors influence those differences. The results confirmed that mechanized harvesting, compared to fully manual, reduces the cost of nuts by at least half.
“In principle, such calculations could have been done independently or even found online,” summarized Yevhen Laiter. “However, we wanted to conduct them with a scientific institution to eliminate errors. Moreover, this is the first research of its kind in our relatively young industry, and other producers will be able to benefit from it. It’s not just a basic calculation, but a scientific study that will be documented and provide a foundation for future strategic planning of the hazelnut industry in Ukraine.”
The 500-hectare hazelnut plantation of Gals Agro was established in 2018 in the southern part of Kyiv region using Italian technology and varieties. The entire orchard operates under an automated drip irrigation system. Now the company must renew its water use permits, but it has been receiving refusals for over a year.
“It’s impossible to grow high-quality hazelnuts without water. We view these refusals to grant water-use permits as the destruction of our plantation. By irrigating and returning water to the soil, we do not disrupt the natural water cycle,” explained Yurii Strilets. He added that government grant programs for nut growers are ineffective: “Everything we achieved, we did not thanks to, but in spite of, the state.”
During the process of exporting its products, Gals Agro faced difficulties at Ukrainian customs because, according to official data, industrial hazelnut plantations did not exist in Ukraine.
“They told us we had gathered nuts in the forest. But we documented every step — from orchard establishment to bush planting — and did everything legally, including an environmental impact assessment. For two months we had to prove to customs that we own a real hazelnut farm, while our contracts were burning and buyers kept asking — ‘Where is the product?’” the specialist said.