Ordu's digital trade potential
Ordu is the hazelnut capital of Türkiye and of the world; it leads in production and exports, and the backbone of the provincial economy rests almost entirely on hazelnuts. The city's annual exports sit in the band of around 700 million dollars, and the great majority of that comes from hazelnuts and hazelnut products.
The real buyer of the hazelnut is the global chocolate and cocoa industry: Ordu hazelnuts go as raw material to more than 100 countries and to the world's leading manufacturers, Germany and Italy above all. That strong demand makes the city an exporter tied to a single product yet operating on a world scale.
Production is integrated into organised industry: hazelnut cracking, roasting and processing plants are concentrated in the organised industrial zones (OSB) of Ordu, Fatsa and Ünye. With hundreds of businesses and tens of thousands of jobs, hazelnuts also define the city's industrial identity.
Beyond hazelnuts the economy is diversifying: furniture and forest products, bentonite mining, fisheries and food processing are the city's other arms. The Black Sea coast and the highlands, Boztepe first among them, hold a growing potential for nature and highland tourism.
Dependence on a single product is both a strength and a risk: when the hazelnut price and the crop swing, the whole economy feels it. That is why moving to higher-value processed products (hazelnut butter, chocolate, roasted products) and diversifying the product line is a strategic priority for the city.
Most companies still export hazelnuts as raw kernels, without a brand; the added value and the brand stay with the chocolate producer. The right B2B digital showcase and processed-product branding can keep a larger share of that value in Ordu, and tourism can open an entirely new line of revenue.