Olive oil: 35% smaller crop in Turkey
November 5, 2025 at 10:33 AM ,
Der AUDITOR
Disagreement over oil production
The 2025/26 season is an “off-year” for olive cultivation in Turkey, which is why a significantly lower crop is to be expected from the outset. In addition, 2024 saw a record crop, which further increases the discrepancy.
As the President of the National Olive and Olive Oil Council (UZZK), Mustafa Tan, recently announced, the national olive crop is expected to reach 2.45 million mt this year, which corresponds to a 34.7% decline in production compared to the previous year (2024 crop: 3.75 million mt). The share of table olives is estimated at 740,000 mt, which is only slightly lower than the 750,000 mt from last year. Meanwhile, the remaining 1.71 million mt of olives are to be processed into oil. Assuming that around 5.5 kg of olives are needed to produce one kilogram of olive oil, olive oil production is expected to reach 310,000 mt (-34.7%) this year – in the 2024/25 season, production amounted to 475,000 mt.
However, Alper Alhat, CEO of the Akhisar Commodities Exchange, disagreed. He said that yields were significantly lower than last year, while prices for olives and olive oil had halved. With carry-over stocks from last year amounting to 200,000 mt, processors were not particularly interested, which is why Alhat estimates this year's olive oil production at only 180,000 mt (-62.1%).
Spain increases exports by 56%
For EU countries, the 2025/26 season started with a significant increase in exports to third countries. Between 1 October and 26 October 2025, the EU supplied a total of 46,087 mt of olive oil (EU categories 1 to 5, treated and untreated) worth EUR 254.240 million. This represents a 30.8% increase in export volume, while the export value fell by around 18.7%. The average export price in the first four weeks of the 2025/26 season was EUR 5.52/kg, compared to EUR 8.88/kg in the same period last year.
At 25,198 mt, more than half of EU exports came from Spain, followed by Italy (13,249 mt), Portugal (4,955 mt) and Greece (1,621 mt). Around a quarter of EU shipments, 11,595 mt, went to the USA, with other important customer countries being Brazil (4,972 mt), the United Kingdom (4,562 mt) and China (3,219 mt).
EU imports amounted to only 2,510 mt of olive oil worth EUR 9.989 million during the above-mentioned period. With 711 mt, 28% of shipments came from Tunisia, while Turkey exported only 53 mt of olive oil to the EU – less than half of what had been imported in the same period last year.
|
EU olive oil exports, in mt |
|||
|
Partner |
2024 |
2025 |
Diff. |
|
Spain |
16,110 |
25,198 |
56.4% |
|
Italy |
12,866 |
13,249 |
3.0% |
|
Portugal |
3,601 |
4,955 |
37.6% |
|
Greece |
1,664 |
1,621 |
-2.6% |
|
Belgium |
290 |
316 |
9.0% |
|
Germany |
190 |
191 |
0.5% |
|
Others |
501 |
557 |
11.2% |
|
Total |
35,222 |
46,087 |
30.8% |
|
DG AGRI TAXUD Customs Surveillance System, 01/10-26/10 15092000+15093000+15094000+15099000 Olive oil |
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