Chocolate makers already choking on the rising price of cocoa face another price crunch in commodity markets after warnings of a global shortage of hazelnuts.
The price of hazelnuts has increased by more than 60% this year to a 10-year high after bad weather devastated crops in Turkey, the world's biggest producer.
One Scottish manufacturer that sells bags of mixed nuts has already decided to take hazelnuts out of the pack, according to an industry source.
About 70% of the world's hazelnuts are grown on steep slopes near Turkey's Black Sea coast, but this year's harvest is likely to be sharply down after hail storms and frost in late March destroyed hazel flowers at a critical moment in the growing season.
The price of the nuts has reached $10,500 (£6,300) per tonne, compared with $6,500 (£3,900) per tonne in February, according to Michael Stevens, a trader at Edinburgh-based Freeworld Trading.
The full extent of the damage is not yet clear, but the Turkish industry is braced for a harvest that could be down to 540,000 tonnes, against pre-frost expectations of up to 800,000 tonnes.
It comes as food companies also face rocketing prices for almonds, cocoa and coffee – a potential nightmare for those who enjoy a Ferrero Rocher with their after-dinner coffee.
The hazelnut price rise will be particularly tough for buyers at some of the world's biggest confectionery companies, such as Cadbury, whose Whole Nut bar – made with hazelnuts – is one of its bestsellers.
A spokesman for the American conglomerate Mondelez, which owns Cadbury, declined to comment on whether it would increase the price of its chocolate bars. Mondelez is the name of the snack company spun off by America's Kraft, which completed a controversial takeover of the British chocolate maker in 2010.
Ferrero, the Piedmont-based company that makes Ferrero Rocher and Nutella, the cocoa and hazelnut spread, will also be watching the market closely. Ferrero is the world's biggest buyer of hazelnuts, using 25% of the world's supply and making 180m kg of the spread every year, according to the Italian Trade Agency.
But the company could be insulated from the latest price moves following its recent purchase of Turkey's largest hazelnut processor, Oltan.
The deal to purchase Oltan, which has eight factories shelling, chopping and roasting nuts, is reported to have unsettled other confectioners, which are uncomfortable that one of their suppliers has fallen into the hands of a rival.
Meanwhile, almond prices are at a nine-year high, because of drought in California, the world's biggest grower, while a prolonged dry spell in Brazil in January and February reduced the coffee harvest, pushing up prices.
Not all the current price moves in food commodities are due to unseasonal weather. The price of cocoa has been driven to a three-year high with consumers in China and India getting a taste for chocolate.
The hazelnut price surge has left market players reeling. "Buyers are living hand to mouth," said Stevens. "Some people had contracts already [pre-dating the frost] and they are not going to get them. A lot of people are still uncovered in the market and people that thought they were covered are now in the market again."
