24.05.2024 Turkish Olive Oil Industry, “The Export Ban on Bulk and Barreled Olive Oil Should Be Lifted Immediately”

Aydın Commodity Exchange, Chairman of the Assembly A. Bahri Erdel, Deputy Chairman of the Assembly Rıza Uyar and Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors Cengiz Ülgen attended the Sector Evaluation meeting hosted by the Aegean Olive and Olive Oil Exporters Association.

Aegean Olive and Olive Oil Exporters Association hosted 20 institutions that determine the fate of the Turkish olive and olive oil sector came together under their ownership and published a joint declaration, stating that export of agricultural products is the insurance of the producers and that the insurance should not be taken away from the producers, and demanded that the ban on the export of bulk and barreled olive oil be lifted immediately.

Stating that the restriction on olive oil, which is one of the most important agricultural products of the Aegean Region and among the agricultural products exported by Turkey, negatively affects the sector representatives, Aydın Commodity Exchange Chairman Fevzi Çondur said, within the scope of the meeting in which olive oil sector representatives participated and the current situation of the sector was evaluated. More than 400 thousand tons of yield is expected in our country in the 2024/2025 season.

At the same time, when we include around 200 thousand tons of transfer stock from the 2023/2024 season and around 50 thousand tons of Afrin olive oil, we see that we have a total of 650 thousand tons of olive oil. Following the decrease in yield due to drought in olive oil producing countries such as Spain, Italy and Tunisia, olive oil prices have increased significantly in the international market. While Turkish exporters thought that they would gain significant income from such a situation, stagnation prevailed in the olive oil market due to the announced ban. The continuation of the precautionary decision will negatively affect the producers and industrialists, especially the exporters in the Turkish olive oil sector.