THE GLOBAL WINDOW OF TURKISH FOOD AND AGRICULTURE The Global Window of Turkish Food and Agriculture Sector
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Press release…
Aegean Olive and Olive Oil Exporters’ Association (EZZİB) made a declaration on the ban on the export of bulk olive oil!
“As the only representative of olive oil exporters in Turkiye, we find the ban on olive oil export in packages over 5 kg by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry without consulting the sector as extremely wrong and demand that this wrong be reversed as soon as possible.
According to the data of the National Olive and Olive Oil Council (UZZK); We have entered the 2021/22 season with 48 thousand tons of stock and an estimated yield of 235 thousand tons.
Turkiye’s annual olive oil consumption is around 150 thousand tons. Even if olive oil and vegetable oil prices come to the same level, we think that there will not be a great increase in consumption in the short term. Olive oil is not a substitute for other vegetable oils. It is not possible to consume all the olive oil produced in our country in the domestic market. We see that we have around 130-140 thousand tons of olive oil that can be exported under these conditions.
The average olive oil export for the last 5 seasons is around 50 thousand tons. When we look at these figures, it is clearly seen that the amount of olive oil we have will be more than enough for both domestic consumption and exports.
However, as of the end of February, we exported 27 thousand tons of olive oil in the first 4 months of the 2021/22 season. Since the ban decision taken today does not allow the export of olive oil in packages of 5-18 kg and above, 80% of our olive oil exports will be on the agenda.
Under these conditions, the prohibition of exporting olive oil in packages over 5 kg will inflict an irreparable blow to the sector.
The duty of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is to support production and producers. While the olive oil harvest that Turkiye should achieve with its 190 million tree assets was 600 thousand tons, today we are talking about 235 thousand tons. The main focus of the Ministry of Agriculture should be to increase productivity per tree.
Olive oil does not come from Ukraine and Russia…
Under these conditions, the producer will not be able to receive the return of his labour and the income of the farmer will decrease. Turkish olive oil exporters have annual contracts. Our exporter will suffer loss of market and image. It is not right to prevent Turkiye’s exports due to the war in the north. Olive oil does not come from Ukraine or Russia, it is a domestic and national crop produced with the hard work of the Turkish producer.
If the production in the domestic market is deemed insufficient for export, olive oil should be brought from abroad with the inward processing regime and the protection of our export markets should be ensured. A ban that comes twice in a year cannot be accepted. We strongly protest the decision taken and demand an immediate reversal from the wrong decision.
As the Aegean Olive and Olive Oil Exporters’ Association, our main goal is to enhance the export of boxed olive oil...
Although it is our main goal to expand boxed exports, each of our companies has to meet the different demands that may come from the importers.
Realizing 55 percent of the world’s olive oil production alone today, Spain exported olive oil in bulk to Italy for many years. In the following years, it acquired Italian brands and reached a certain position in branded exports. Currently, 60 percent of Spain’s total exports today are in bulk.
As in the case of Spain, our ultimate goal is to escalate the share of our boxed exports. On the other hand, companies operating in areas such as catering and canned fish supply a significant amount of olive oil from our country in bulk to be used in their own production.
For all these reasons, we want the continuation of the export of olive oil in bulk and in barrels. We present to the public that there is no other country that imposes an export ban on bulk olive oil among olive oil producing countries around the world.
We hope that our new Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Mr. Vahit Kirişci will revert from this wrong decision as soon as possible and will prevent the olive-olive oil sector from being harmed both in the short term and in the medium-long term. We would also like to state that we are open to dialogue for the solution of our current problems.”
AEGEAN OLIVE AND OLIVE OIL EXPORTERS’ ASSOCIATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS…
