How the world olive oil market is faring in the 2013/14 crop year

The IOC Economic Committee met during the recent 22nd extraordinary session of the Council of Members. An update of the olive oil data supplied by Members for 2012/13 and 2013/14 was presented at the meeting. The resultant aggregate data are given in Table 1 but are likely to change between now and November 2014, when they will be definitively approved by Members. According to these figures, olive oil production in 2013/14 is expected to be 28 pc higher than in 2012/13, chiefly because of higher production in the EU producing countries as a whole (+62 pc). Spain is the main driving force behind this EU growth, with output expected to reach 1 770 000 t (+187 pc). Production is also expected to go up by 52 pc in Portugal to reach 90 000 t. In Italy, on the other hand, it is provisionally assessed at 350 000 t, 16 pc less than in 2012/13, and in Greece it is expected to be no more than 135 000 t, down by 63 pc due to adverse climatic conditions. Production elsewhere among the IOC membership is almost 26 pc lower in aggregate terms and the provisional figures released in the February 2014 issue of the newsletter (No 80) still hold. Looking at consumption, the biggest increase is expected in the EU countries while the provisional figures for exports have inched slightly ahead of imports.

Table 1 - Olive oil figures for the 2012/13 (final) and 2013/14 (provisional) crop years