The Andalusian cooperatives warn of the tight availability of oil for this campaign

In its last Sectorial Council of Olive Oil, held in Jaén, Agri-food Cooperatives of Andalusia has warned of the tight availability of oil to supply the market, given the good commercialization index of the 2016-17 season and, above all, considering the important productive decline that is expected in the current one. A decrease due to the persistent drought suffered by the field and that is affecting the olive trees, which are already dragging a water deficit of several years. All this would lead to a disastrous 2018/19 campaign, taking into account that 70% of the Andalusian olive grove is rainfed.

In the framework of the celebration of its Sectoral Council of Olive Oil, Cooperatives Agro-alimentary of Andalusia has carried out, in Jaén, a balance of the past campaign 2016-2017 and an analysis of the evolution of the beginning of the present 2017 -2018.

In this sense, the sectoral president of the federation, Cristóbal Gallego Martínez, has underlined the economic results with which it closed last year, which showed a new record in the value of marketing, with a total of 4,469 million euros at the national level. “The olive oil sector is setting milestones, and it is to be satisfied,” he said.

This good marketing balance of the 2016-2017 campaign has placed the amount of linkage around 300,000 tons, an adjusted availability, but which, according to Cristóbal Gallego has recognized, is essential to guarantee supply in the markets, especially taking into account the important productive decrease expected in 2017-2018.

In Andalusia a 16% decrease in production is expected, to 884,900 tons, while in the whole of Spain the fall is expected to be 15%, estimated at 1,090,000 tons

On the other hand, world oil forecasts place the international supply between 2.7 and 2.9 million tons, while overall demand, taking into account the evolution of growth, is estimated at 2.956 million tons, according to data from the International Olive Council (IOC).

While awaiting confirmation of these assessments, the start of the 2017-2018 olive-growing season is still very positive, with an increase of 9.5% in the sales to the market during the first month, in relation to the same period of the previous year, and a total of 112,700 tons of olive oil marketed, according to data from the Agency for Food Information and Control (AICA).

Bet on quality

The sectoral president of the federation has also wanted to highlight the effort being made by the Andalusian cooperatives in favor of the production of quality olive oil. In this same line, the president of the Sectoral Council of Olive Oil Agri-food Cooperatives of Spain, Rafael Sanchez de Puerta, has informed that 2017-2018 is the first campaign of application of the System of Reinforced Quality Self-control for the extra virgin olive oils. An initiative that, driven by Cooperativas Agro-alimentarias, with the support of the national Administration, aims to increase the quality assurance of olive oils for the consumer, while providing greater legal security to the packaging companies.

Sánchez de Puerta has demanded the activation of the self-regulation mechanism of olive oil supply, to avoid fluctuations and price spikes, both at source and at point of sale, due to such disparate production campaigns

For the president of the Sectoral Council of Oil of Agro-alimentary Cooperatives of Spain, the activation of the said mechanism, “would benefit both producers and consumers, providing greater stability to consumption.”

Cooperativas Agro-alimentarias de Andalucía demands, in this sense, the application of articles 209 and 210 of Regulation 1308/2013 of the Common Organization of Markets (OCM), so that the sector can accommodate supply to demand, between campaigns, through producer organizations and their associations in the sector. In addition, Rafael Sánchez de Puerta has demanded that the European Commission, the post-2020 CAP “collect these market management mechanisms, as well as the necessary measures to rebalance the agri-food chain,” after a first communication released the last week, where they were not included.

Source: Cooperativas Agro-alimentarias de Andalucía