Turkey’s Olive Sector Aims for Record $1B in Exports

With Turkey’s olive sec­tor expected to set a new pro­duc­tion record this year, offi­cials have raised the bar for the country’s olive oil and table olives exports, aim­ing to reach a record $1 bil­lion (€950 mil­lion) in value in the 2024/25 crop year.

“We antic­i­pate reach­ing a his­toric level in olive and olive oil pro­duc­tion in the 2024/25 sea­son, tar­get­ing yields of 475,000 met­ric tons of olive oil and 750,000 tons of table olives,” Emre Uygun, chair­man of the Aegean Olive and Olive Oil Exporters’ Association (EZZIB), told Olive Oil Times.

Over the next five years, we aim to increase our exports to $1.5 bil­lion.– Emre Uygun, chair­man, EZZIB

“I believe these pro­duc­tion lev­els present ambi­tious export goals for the Turkish olive sec­tor,” he added. ​“With our tar­get of export­ing 200,000 tons of olive oil and 100,000 tons of table olives, we aim to bring in a total of $1 bil­lion in for­eign rev­enue.”

Spain, Italy and the United States are the top des­ti­na­tions of Turkish olive oil, while the country’s table olives are pri­mar­ily exported to Germany, the United States, Romania and Iraq.

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Uygun said that EZZIB is also inves­ti­gat­ing the pos­si­bil­ity of tar­iff-free access for Turkish olive oil and table olives to key trad­ing part­ners such as the European Union and the United Kingdom.

“Additionally, we are plan­ning sec­toral trade del­e­ga­tions to the United States and other coun­tries, along with pro­mo­tional activ­i­ties at inter­na­tional trade fairs, to sup­port the growth of our exports,” he said. ​“Over the next five years, we aim to increase our exports to $1.5 (€1.43) bil­lion.”

Regarding olive oil, Turkish exports have expe­ri­enced ups and downs in vol­umes and rev­enue in the last two years.

In 2022/23, the coun­try exported around 146,000 tons of olive oil worth approx­i­mately $709,000 (€673,000).

In 2023/24, how­ever, Turkish exports of olive oil declined by 52 per­cent in quan­tity to 71,000 tons and by 29 per­cent in value to $506,000 (€481,000) due to the dip in the country’s olive oil pro­duc­tion that year and the ban imposed on exports of Turkish bulk olive oil.

According to EZZIB, Turkish olive oil pro­duc­ers and exporters suf­fered a $202.5 (€192.7) mil­lion loss due to the export ban, which came into force on August 1, 2023, and con­tin­ued for 13 con­sec­u­tive months.

However, this crop year, the country’s pro­duc­ers are opti­mistic about ramp­ing up their exports to inter­na­tional mar­kets.

“The record pro­duc­tion lev­els, com­bined with the recent lift­ing of the export ban, are poised to cre­ate favor­able con­di­tions for Turkish olive oil on the global mar­ket,” said Nilufer Koray, direc­tor of sales oper­a­tions at Gaia Oliva from Turkey’s north­ern Aegean region.

“We antic­i­pate an increase in exports for Gaia Oliva and Turkey as a whole this year,” he added. ​“We are focus­ing on expand­ing into new mar­kets while strength­en­ing our pres­ence in exist­ing ones.”

“This is a crit­i­cal moment for Turkey to enhance its rep­u­ta­tion as a global olive oil pow­er­house,” Koray noted.

However, the country’s olive oil sec­tor is fac­ing the reper­cus­sions of the export restric­tions on Turkish olive oil: the gov­ern­ment has imposed three bans on exports of bulk olive oil in the last four years to sta­bi­lize the domes­tic mar­ket.

These export pro­hi­bi­tions inevitably led to the shrink­age of inter­na­tional mar­kets for Turkish pro­duc­ers and exporters.

“Exporters are try­ing to repair the dam­age caused by the export bans imple­mented in the past and to increase exports again,” agri­cul­tural news web­site Tarim Gündem wrote.

“With the return to nor­mal pro­duc­tion in Spain, there is con­cern about not being able to com­pete due to the decrease in prices and, most impor­tantly, due to the sup­pressed exchange rate,” it added.

“On the other hand, there is the con­cern of ​‘who will we sell this much oil to?’” Tarim Gündem con­cluded. ​“The ban was lifted, but it was too late.”

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