Türkiye has decided to ban the olive oil exports until the beginning of the next harvest period against the background of the product’s appreciation on the world market and the sale of Turkish oil to third countries by Spain and Italy.
“Due to the drought in Europe, olive oil production in the world decreased by 20 percent, primarily in Italy and Spain, while in Türkiye it increased by 62 percent,” the International Olive Council said.
The Turkish Ministry of Trade pointed out that between November 2022 and July 2023, the country increased its foreign sales of olive oil by 240% to 136,500 tonnes. In addition, as a result of the increase in exports, oil prices in Türkiye have also risen significantly, by 102%.
It was pointed out that due to the high customs duties of the European Union, Türkiye’s exports of packaged olive oil to EU member countries for value-added and final consumers can be made in very low amounts:
Negative impact on domestic consumer prices
“In this framework, it has been noted that the negative impact on domestic consumer prices of bulk and barreled olive oil exports, which have increased significantly due to increased foreign demand and world prices caused by declining olive oil yields in the world, has continued,” the Ministry of Trade said in a statement. “Under these circumstances, the Ministry has made a re-evaluation and additional measures have been put into effect for the export of olive oil in bulk or in barrels until the beginning of the next olive oil harvest period (November 1, 2023),” the statement said.
Italy and Spain, in turn, process Turkish oil supplied to them in bulk and in barrels and then sell it under their brands to third countries.
Therefore, having assessed the situation in the market, Türkiye decided to limit exports until the start of the next harvest.