In the first half of 2021, exports of olive and olive oil, one of Turkey’s traditional export products, amounted to $136 million.
Our olive and olive oil exports lost 3% compared to the same period of 2020. While Turkey exported $10 billion 100 million worth of food products in the first half of 2021, our olive and olive oil sector accounted for 1.3% of our food exports. When we look at the sub-items of our olive and olive oil exports, the biggest share is 44 thousand tons with an increase of 8% on amount basis, and table olives with an export of $77 million with an increase of 5% on amount basis. Table olives are followed by olive oil with an export of approximately $55 million and olive pomace oil with an export of approximately $4 million.
MOST EXPORT TO GERMANY
Aegean Olive and Olive Oil Exporters’ Association President Davut Er said, “We aim to bring $300 million to our country in the 2020-21 season. Germany has been the country with the highest exports in the olive, olive oil and pomace oil sector in Turkey. Germany is followed by the USA, Iraq, Romania and Spain. The countries with the highest increase in value in our exports are Spain, Iran and Australia. Our Association contributed to the agricultural exports of the Aegean Region with an export of $79 million in the January-June 2021 period. The USA, which meets the largest share of 391,000 tons of olive oil consumption, which reaches 400 thousand tons per year, with imports, stands out for us as one of the few countries where we can achieve the fastest expansion in olive oil exports worldwide. We managed to export $20 million of olive and olive oil in the January-June period of 2021 to the USA, which ranks first with a 30% share in Turkey’s olive oil exports with an amount of $33.5 million in the 2019-20 season.
HYBRID TASTING EVENT
Stating that their goal is to get a bigger share from this market with great potential, President Er said, “As part of our Turquality Project, which we carried out with the support of the Ministry of Commerce, in February, we introduced our olive oil to the leading importers in the food industry, and the purchasing directors of hotels and restaurants in the US market, with the Hybrid Tasting event. Turkish olive oil has attracted attention due to the important role it plays in strengthening the immune system, especially against the Covid-19 virus. Turkish Olives and Olive Oils, which were held in the kitchen event area of Black Fire Innovation Center, which has innovative tourism technologies and a kitchen laboratory established in partnership with UNLV (University of Nevada-Las Vegas / University of Las Vegas) and Caesars Entertainment, received great appreciation from the participants. In 2021, as Aegean Olive and Olive Oil Exporters’ Association, EVO IOOC and Lodo Guide in Italy, Japan Olive Oil Prize and Olive Japan in Japan, London IOOC in England and NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition in the USA we supported our members in sending products to more than 1,000 international competitions. We have mediated the sending of nearly 500 olive oil samples from more than 150 companies to these competitions abroad, and Turkish olive oils have won 298 awards in the competitions, the results of which have been announced so far.”
TURKISH COMPANIES WON 44 AWARDS
Pointing out that Turkish companies won a total of 44 awards in the NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition held in New York, USA, Er said, “Our companies brought 68 awards in the EVO-IOOC olive oil competition held in Italy, 70 awards in the JOOP competition held in Japan, 33 awards in the Olive Japan competition, and 83 awards in the London IOOC competition. We are extremely happy to be reaping the fruits of our support. We congratulate our award-winning companies for their achievements and their contributions to the promotion of Turkish olive oil. We continue to support our members in promotion and marketing in this environment with virtual trade delegations and virtual fairs. Along with normalization, we also focused on our physical activities. The “Buyer Delegation Organization” we organized at the AgroExpo International Agriculture and Livestock Fair, Turkey’s largest and one of Europe’s four largest agricultural fairs, witnessed more than a hundred bilateral business meetings. Importers from Bahrain, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cameroon, Kyrgyzstan, Mauritania, Moldova and Niger participated in the fair.”
1.2 MILLION TONS OF PRODUCTION TARGET
President Er said, “According to the data of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, our table olive harvest is aimed to reach 1 million 200 thousand tons and our olive oil harvest to 650 thousand tons with the new planting trees becoming productive. If we reach these yields, Turkey will be the first in the world in table olives, and our country’s name will be written in the second place in olive oil. Thus, if Turkey reaches these levels in production, it will become a price maker worldwide in exports as well. Our goal is to increase the export of packaged products in olive oil and table olive exports and to come to a position that will bring $1.5 billion of foreign currency to our country in 2025.”
Source: Sabah / Translated by Irem Yildiz