Olive oil: new world producers appear strongly
By Juan Herrera
There was a time when the production of olive oil was limited to a few Mediterranean countries. And while the world regions continue to be with a greater production, over the years new producers have been incorporated as the olive juice has been known throughout the world.
According to data from the International Olive Council (IOC), the 2016/2017 season is expected to come out with production slightly above 2.7 million tonnes. Undoubtedly, the great referent is Spain with half that amount, followed by Greece, Italy, Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey, and all that list of traditional countries in the Mediterranean area, such as Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya , Israel or Egypt.
Egypt has seen spectacular growth in its olive production in the last decade, from 2,500 tonnes in 2005 to almost 30,000 tonnes
But, as we mentioned before, the incorporation of new producing areas seems an irreversible fact that can suppose an accolade to the growth of the consumption of olive oil worldwide. Thus, in South America, Chile excels; a country that only ten years ago neither produced nor consumed this product, and which today grows at a spectacular rate (16,000-18,000 tons annually), surpassing in productive indexes to Argentina, which in the last campaigns has slowed the pace of increase.
Also strikingly, the beginning of the consumption culture of ‘green gold’ in a country with such enormous possibilities as China is. One of the culprits of this fever for the olive juice is undoubtedly the Spanish oil, which arrived not so long ago the Asian giant, but who made it to stay.
Although, at present, China only produces 5,000 tons, everything indicates that in a few years, if it is proposed, it will become a benchmark in the sector worldwide
Another giant that took the leap several decades ago is the United States. The competition with other more popular fats made difficult the introduction of olive oil into the market at first, but the good work done by the sector and the work to make known the benefits of the product made the demand grow. This led to the fact that in some areas of the country, such as California, there was the step of planting olive groves that although their production does not represent large numbers, they have achieved stable numbers in the passage of time, standing around 5 and 10,000 tons. Nor can we forget Australia, where in 2000 hardly 500 tons were produced and already exceed 20,000.
In every corner of the planet there is an olive tree. It is the strength of olive oil.
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