Olive production for 2024 is expected to double, the price of oil will decrease

2024-10-02 08:17:00, Ekonomi CNA

After a year of poor production, a high amount of olives for oil production is expected this year.

In the Elbasan area, due to high temperatures and faster ripening, farmers will start harvesting olives from October 10 or 15.

Agron Çakalli, the administrator of the Elbasan Agricultural Federation (FBE), which collects for processing the production of 125 farmers in the Elbasan area, told "Monitor" that the amount of olives collected for oil production is expected to be twice as high as last year. passed.

Çakalli claims that the increase in production has been influenced by the absence of diseases, such as the olive fly disease that affects the plant the most, by the increase in the service of farmers and the rains of the autumn season.

According to INSTAT data, 117.6 thousand tons of olives were produced in 2017. Compared to 2022, the amount of olives produced fell by about 26%.

The decline in olive production also reduced the production of olive oil. According to farmers, almost 40% less olive oil was produced this year than the previous year. For 2023, the lack of production has doubled the selling price of olive oil compared to 2022. Farmers sold olive oil at a price of 600, 700 to 800 Lek per liter.

This year, the increase in olive production, according to the processing factories, is expected to automatically increase the production of olive oil. But the overproduction is not expected to bring a high price drop, since there is an increase in demand for export for local olive oil. Refineries have started discussing contracts with entrepreneurs from Italy for the export of oil.

"If last year we sold the produced, unpackaged oil for 700 Lek per liter due to lack of production, this year the price is expected to reach up to 600 Lek per liter due to overproduction. We do not expect the price to fall below the value of 600 lek, as there is a high demand for export

This year in countries like Italy, Greece or Spain, the production is not expected to be good due to the high temperatures.

Meanwhile, requests for the export of oil to Italy have started. The contracts are expected to be finalized with the analysis of samples with the production of olive oil", said the head of the Agricultural Federation of Elbasan.

For years now, 60% of the oil produced by FBE is exported, while the rest is sold in small grocery stores, restaurants and supermarkets.

The producer's experts have warned that the periodicity of production is characteristic of the olive tree. Other factors that influence the increase in production are the climatic conditions and the performance of services./ Monitor magazine