This year, olive production falls, the price of oil doubles

2023-11-06 07:18:23, Ekonomi CNA

The production of olives this year marks a decrease in Albania and this is also accompanied by the doubling of the price of olive oil.

The country no longer has the amount of oil of previous years as the enterprises and farmers sold it to foreign enterprises in the first six months of this year.

Olive oil exports this year reached about 7,500 tons with a significant increase towards neighboring countries Italy and Greece.

The olive groves in Albania have a lower production this year than last year when the olive production reached about 160 thousand tons.

In Vlora, an area known for olive cultivation, the oil production factories have started to work at low rates.

The Director of the Center for the Transfer of Agricultural Technologies in Vlora, Meno Besimaj, says that in a general assessment of this center, which covers olive and oil issues at the national level, there is a lower production of olives, but a higher price of oil.

"In general, the situation of olive production this year is at lower levels compared to last year, since 2022 was a year with high olive production, about 160,000 tons nationwide. There is a positive thing this year for farmers as the price will be almost double compared to last year".

Even Enerik Xhaferaj, an olive oil producer, says that this year the price of olive oil has doubled.

The price of oil has almost doubled this year. From 4,000 Lek per liter last year, this year it has gone from 8 to 10,000 Lek.

The Technology Transfer Center in Vlora, which has an olive plantation, has managed to sell this year at auction the amount of olives at a price almost double that of a year ago.

"The price has increased since the supply this year is higher, the amount of production is lower, but since the consumption is also increasing, since the population has started to become aware of a greater use of olive oil. It is understood that even countries like Italy and Spain have had a lower production and since the olive oil processors have signed contracts for export, they are forced to respect them. Regarding the price increase, I am mentioning only one fact: we have the plantation of of olives here at our center, and this year at the auction, the price of grain olives was 80-90% higher than in previous years."

Mr. Besimaj further says that last year the stock production of olive oil went towards export thanks to an agreement in March of this year between the Ministries of Agriculture of Italy and Albania.

"Almost all the stock production was gone with the agreements with Italy, but the production was gone and the price was not at the level claimed by the farmers and with the cost that we extract the oil. It is understood that we have higher costs than other countries considering that the biggest expenses in our country are related to harvesting."

Farmers this year, says the producer Xhaferraj, are turning the production into oil and are not selling it, waiting for the old situation to happen when they bring it back to export it at a more favorable price.

"Farmers are not selling the oil they make but practice the method they followed for years, they take the oil home and will return it when the export market opens. I don't know how well this will work this year."

Mr. Xhaferi says that his factory has storage capacity, but the unstable price situation makes farmers not to deposit the quantities of oil they produce in the factory.

"We have deposits and opportunities to accumulate it, but because the price is not fixed, farmers are fluctuating, they don't like the price offered by the factories at this time and they think that the price increases more. Last year, the sale of oil started at a price of 3500 old lek per liter and reached the Italian market at 6000 lek, and the farmers were somewhat tempted. And this year it's happening."

While Mr. Besimaj says that the time has come for factories to look away from storage

"The farmer should take the amount he will need for his own consumption and sell the rest to the factory. So factories must be in storage, marketing, and labeling to increase the quality and value chain of olive oil production."

According to the data of the office, in the 8 months of this year, Albania exported about 7,500 tons of olive oil that belongs to the production of the previous year or years ago, in the value of over 26 million dollars.

Albanian customs data prove that a liter of olive oil was exported at an average of 3.5 dollars, a low price compared to the costs of local farmers and factories.

Albania is one of the main countries in Europe for olive cultivation with about 12 million olive roots, of which about 11 million are in production./ VOA