Olive oil: Turkey is the world's largest producer of table olives
March 26, 2025 at 9:35 AM ,
Der AUDITOR
Production of table olives reaches 750,000 mt
Turkey has invested large sums in the olive oil sector over the past 20 years. The result of the 2024 olive harvest was 3.6 million mt, 750,000 mt of which were table olives. This makes Turkey the world's largest producer of table olives and the second largest producer of olive oil - olive oil production in Turkey also increased by 157% to 475,000 mt this season. Turkey is therefore keen to optimise marketing in order to make the most of the increased production volumes.
Turkey considers exports to the USA to be particularly promising. In the 2023/2024 season, Turkey dhipped olive oil worth USD 199.5 million to the USA, as well as table olives worth USD 16 million. The aim is to secure 10% of the market share. The USA imports olives and olive oil worth a total of USD 4 billion annually.
In preparation for the flowering period, olive growers have been pruning and tending their trees over the past few weeks. The local departments of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry have explicitly warned against ring spot this year, as the disease, which is caused by fungal pathogens, could result in high yield losses in the worst-case scenario.
EU increases imports from Turkey by 61%
Since the start of the 2024/2025 season on 1 October, a total of 35,654 mt of olive oil (EU categories 1 to 5, treated and untreated) worth EUR 161.952 million have been imported into the EU from third countries, meaning that the import volume has fallen by 2.4% compared to the same period last year, while the import value has actually fallen by 40.9%. At EUR 4.54/kg, the average price per kilogramme was well below the previous year's level of EUR 7.50/kg. The reason for this is likely to be the significant increase in production volumes in the EU growing countries this year.
While shipments from Tunisia (+20.3% to 29,375 mt), Turkey (+61.1% to 894 mt) and Algeria (+183.7% to 539 mt) increased noticeably, imports from Morocco (+60.0% to 1,202 mt) and Egypt (-74.9% to 1,056 mt) fell significantly year-on-year. The main importers in the EU were Italy (+39.0% to 20,200 mt), Spain (-58.3% to 6,020 mt) and France (+17.8% to 5,170 mt), although Spain was able to record a significantly better crop last year, which is also reflected in the import values - the country harvested a total of 6.5 million mt of olives.
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EU olive oil imports, in mt |
|||
|
Origin |
2023/24 |
2024/25 |
Diff. |
|
Tunisia |
24,414 |
29,375 |
20.3% |
|
Morocco |
3,003 |
1,202 |
-60.0% |
|
Egypt |
4,201 |
1,056 |
-74.9% |
|
Turkey |
555 |
894 |
61.1% |
|
Algeria |
190 |
539 |
183.7% |
|
Others |
4,162 |
2,588 |
-37.8% |
|
Total |
36,525 |
35,654 |
-2.4% |
|
DG AGRI TAXUD Customs Surveillance System, 01/10-16/03 15092000+15093000+15094000+15099000 Olive oill |
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