Morrocan Olive Oil Exports Rise After Last Year's Bumper Crop

Moroccan olive oil exports by vol­ume have dou­bled in the first eight months of 2022 com­pared to the pre­vi­ous year.

According to the lat­est data from the Ministry of Agriculture, the over­all value of exports also grew 47 per­cent, reach­ing MAD 456 mil­lion (€42.3 mil­lion).

The min­istry said export vol­umes had been pos­i­tively affected by ris­ing inter­na­tional demand for olive oil.

In the first eight months of the year, Moroccan com­pa­nies exported 13,200 tons of olive oil. The International Olive Council (IOC) esti­mates that Morocco will export 28,000 tons of olive oil in the 2021/22 crop year, which runs from October to September.

The min­istry noted how European Union coun­tries had been the pri­mary pur­chasers of Moroccan olive oil, with sales ris­ing by 220 per­cent in vol­umes and 260 per­cent in value.

The min­istry added that olive pomace oil exports also have grown by 140 per­cent in the first eight months of the cur­rent year, with trade value exceed­ing MAD 212 mil­lion (€19.7 mil­lion).

Olive oil and pomace oil exports to European Union coun­tries grew steadily from 2016 to 2019, ris­ing from 17,256 tons to 37,158. However, vol­umes dropped to 11,180 tons in the 2019/20 crop year. Of those, extra vir­gin olive oil accounted for 6,017 tons.

According to the min­istry, Morocco pro­duced 1.96 mil­lion tons of olives in the 2021/22 crop year, an increase of 21 per­cent com­pared with the pre­vi­ous one.

Rising pro­duc­tion fig­ures are the fruit of the long-term plan for olive grow­ing expan­sion in the coun­try, which is quickly becom­ing one of the most rel­e­vant olive oil pro­duc­ers out­side of Europe.

Domestic olive oil con­sump­tion has also increased con­sid­er­ably recently, ris­ing from 100,000 tons in 2010/11 to 150,000 tons expected in the cur­rent sea­son.

After pro­duc­ing 200,000 tons of olive oil in the 2021/22 crop year, the cur­rent cam­paign is unlikely to yield the same results.

Moroccan olive farms have borne the con­se­quences of the severe drought and heat waves, with the two most promi­nent olive-pro­duc­ing regions expect­ing steep pro­duc­tion drops in 2022/23.

• Ministry of Agriculture