Press release…
Chairman of Aegean Olive and Olive Oil Exporters’ Association (EZZİB) Davut Er said that consumption of healthy products is a rising trend worldwide.
Davut Er said, “In this process, there is a continuous increase in the demand for olives and olive oil. While olive oil is consumed by the countries in the Mediterranean basin, which are the most olive producers, there has been a significant increase in olive oil consumption in the Far East and America in recent years.”
Davut Er stated, “While there is an annual production of 3.2 million tons of olive oil worldwide, consumption is over 3 million tons and this figure is constantly increasing. As for Turkey, it ranks second or third in the world with an average annual production of 450 thousand tons in table olive production, although it varies over the years and takes the fourth or fifth place in the world ranking with an average production of 200 thousand tons in olive oil.”
Pointing out that after 2002 the olive sector has made a major investment in Turkey, Davut Er noted, “We have increased our olive tree assets from around 90 million in 2002 to 177 million today.”
“According to the data of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, as our new planting trees become productive, our table olive harvest will reach 1 million 200 thousand tons and our olive oil harvest will reach 650 thousand tons,” Davut Er added.
“If we reach these goals, Turkey will be the world champion in table oil production and rank the second place worldwide in terms of producing the olive oil.
If Turkey achieves such a performance in production, we could be a market maker in exports throughout the world. Today, we expect our table olive and olive oil exports, which were around 400 million dollars in our brightest season, to increase to 1.5 billion dollars in the future,” Davut Er concluded…