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Olive oil: shock for exporters in Turkey

August 7, 2023 at 4:27 PM , Der AUDITOR
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IZMIR. Turkey's Ministry of Trade has issued a temporary export ban for olive oil to combat high prices in the domestic market. Although this has frequently happened in recent years, exporters have been taken by surprise this time round.

Domestic prices way too high

Although officials working at the Ministry of Trade took the time phoned exporters to inform them of the ban last week, the news came as a complete shock. All olive oil exports in bulk and barrels have been banned between 01 August and 31 October. Intention is to bring down domestic consumer prices, which have soared as global olive oil production has declined and international demand is up. Exporters are enraged as the decision was taken overnight and undercuts any efforts undertaken by Turkey's olive oil industry to establish a good image in the international market. Turkey has already issued export bans in the past three years and the new campaign will start on 01 November.

According to the International Olive Council (UZK) prevailing dry conditions prompted global production to decline in 2022/2023, whereas production soared by 62% in Turkey. Spain and Italy witnessed a 20% decline in olive production. Olive oil prices have soared in Turkey, where domestic prices doubled in June as compared with May. While high tariffs limit EU imports of refined and bottled olive oil from Turkey, suppliers in Italy and Spain tend to buy bulk olive oil here to refill and sell these volumes within the bloc.

 

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