TURKEY – Gürsoy, one of Turkey’s top 10 hazelnut exporters, has invested in the new TOMRA 5C optical sorter machine for processing hazelnuts, giving it a competitive advantage  targeting high quality export markets as it is the first company in the country to employ this technology.

Gürsoy produces natural hazelnuts and various processed hazelnuts for industrial use, cream types with cocoa or milk, hazelnut spread, dragée, various packaged hazelnuts, sauces, and chocolate for the domestic and export retail industry. Gürsoy has been using TOMRA machines in its facilities since the early 2000s. Six TOMRA machines are operating on the production lines of its three facilities in Ordu.

“Although our production volume varies from year to year due to yield and export conditions, our sales volume ranges from 10,000 to 14,000 tons of hazelnut kernels. To achieve this capacity, we benefit from the advantages of the TOMRA machines. These are usually on the natural hazelnut line because if the raw material is sorted well, you do not need to sort the product again after processing. We also have TOMRA optical sorters on the processed hazelnut lines. As we are happy with our partnership with TOMRA, which dates back over 20 years, we decided to invest in their newest machines and use the TOMRA 5C for the first time for sorting hazelnuts.”

Dursun Oğuz Gürsoy, Chairman, Gürsoy

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Gürsoy thoroughly researched the market before deciding to purchase the new TOMRA 5C. The main factors in preferring the TOMRA 5C were its sorting performance, capacity, and ability to detect the defects which other machines would miss, and the company’s previous experience with TOMRA machines in the past years.

TOMRA Food Turkey Sales Manager Ahmet Koçyiğit informed that the TOMRA 5C premium optical sorter combines industry-leading sensors with machine learning and big-data analysis to ensure the most accurate foreign material removal possible.

“High-resolution lasers and the latest generation sensors help the TOMRA 5C detect and analyze the smallest defects, which are impossible to scan with other machines. With this sorter, we address the biggest challenges of the nut and dried fruit industry, such as labor, food safety and product quality. Gürsoy will be the first hazelnut processor in Turkey to use this special machine thanks to its approach being always open to improvement.”

Ahmet Koçyiğit, Sales Manager, TOMRA Food Turkey

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Dursun Gürsoy explained that Turkey exports hazelnuts mainly to Germany and Italy, as well as other EU countries such as France, Poland and Austria. He commented that to meet the high expectations of European markets, the production process has to be managed meticulously.

He enlightened that Turkey supplies 65-70% of hazelnuts in the world every year. Although Italy, the US, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Chile, and Spain are also top producers, Turkey leads the way globally in terms of volume and quality. In 2020, Turkey exported 280,924 tons of hazelnut kernels for a value of US$1.9 billion.

The chairman stated that using TOMRA machines has dramatically decreased the number of complaints about foreign materials.

“While reducing labor costs, we increased our production capacity. Also, fast maintenance service, spare part service, and high machine performance are among the most important advantages of TOMRA. The return on investment for the optical sorters has improved because of all these advantages.”

Dursun Oğuz Gürsoy, Chairman, Gürsoy

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Gürsoy continuously invests in its facilities to ensure the quality meets customers’ demands, and it is at the forefront of automation with its purchases of TOMRA optical sorters.

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