`U.S. Olive Oil Imports Continue Steady Climb - Olive Oil Times
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U.S. Olive Oil Imports Continue Steady Climb

By Julie Butler
Nov. 9, 2012 11:39 UTC

Olive oil and olive pomace oil imports into the United States are still steadily climb­ing, achiev­ing 7 per­cent growth over last year, the lat­est International Olive Council (IOC) fig­ures show.

They totaled 290,227 tons for the first 11 months of the 2011/12 sea­son) and are expected to top 300,000 tons once the September fig­ures are in, accord­ing to the IOC’s October mar­ket newslet­ter.

Italy remains the lead­ing sup­plier, with 143,656 tons and up 4 per­cent. Spain fol­lows with 84,371 tons but greater growth, 35 per­cent, sea­son-on-sea­son.

Next is Tunisia, 30,308 tons (+24 per­cent), Argentina with 8,997 tons (+33 per­cent) and Greece with 5,222 tons (+30 per­cent).

Nearly two-thirds of all imports were vir­gin grade, 30 per­cent were olive oil and 5 per­cent olive pomace oil.

Chinese mar­ket smaller but grow­ing faster

China out­stripped fore­casts to import nearly 45,968 tons of olive oil and olive pomace oil in 2010/11, the IOC also reported.

It may not reach even a sixth of US imports but this mar­ket has seen spec­tac­u­lar growth of 38 per­cent on the pre­vi­ous year.

Spain was the top source with 26,885 tons, account­ing for 60 per­cent of total Chinese olive oil imports and more than dou­ble rival Italy’s 10,729 tons. Greece fol­lows with 2,720 tons and Tunisia with 1,115 tons.

The vast major­ity — 84 per­cent — of Chinese imports was vir­gin grade, 5 per­cent was olive oil and 11 per­cent olive pomace oil.

Spanish exports also up in Australia, Japan, Brazil, Russia

The world’s top pro­ducer and exporter, Spain saw its sales to non-European Union coun­tries climb by a fourth in the first 11 months of 2011/12. Its record har­vest trans­lated into higher exports into all six of its top non-EU des­ti­na­tions: the U.S., China, Australia, Japan, Brazil, Russia.

Overall world mar­ket 2011/12 crop year

The IOC reports total imports for October to August are up 13 per­cent into Russia, 18 per­cent into Japan, and 14 per­cent into Brazil, but still down into Canada and Australia, with declines of 4 and 3 per­cent respec­tively.

Imports into the EU are up 12 per­cent sea­son-on-sea­son, which the IOC says prob­a­bly reflects ​“some oper­a­tors’ expec­ta­tions of a poor har­vest (in Spain) in 2012/13.”

Proof of Spain’s pric­ing impact

Producer prices for extra vir­gin olive oil in Italy and Greece have now reflected the rise that occurred in Spain start­ing in late June.

In Italy, they’ve risen over the last two months, climb­ing from €2.38/kg in the first week of August to end October at €2.84/kg, com­pared to €2.48/kg for Spain.

And over three months in Greece they’ve risen 13 per­cent, from €1.82/kg in late July to €2.21/kg in late October.

“While they have taken longer to mate­ri­al­ize in Italy and Greece, these rises show the influ­ence of prices in Spain, the world’s fore­most pro­ducer, despite the prospects of a good 2012/13 har­vest in the first two coun­tries, Greece par­tic­u­larly” the IOC said.


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