Portugal Anticipates Record Yield

Despite drought con­di­tions across the coun­try this past sum­mer, Portugal is expect­ing a near-record olive oil yield in 2019.

Mariana Matos, sec­re­tary-gen­eral of Casa do Azeite, the Portuguese Olive Oil Association said a 40 per­cent increase in olive oil pro­duc­tion is expected when har­vest­ing begins in October. Total pro­duc­tion is expected to reach 140,000 tons, up from 100,000 tons last year.

The expected increase is due to ​“new and inten­sive plan­ta­tions” in the largest and south­ern­most grow­ing region in Portugal, Alentejo.

“If we reach these pro­duc­tion val­ues, it will be a record pro­duc­tion in Portugal, the largest ever since there [have been] offi­cial records,” Matos said. The records go back to 1915. ​“This pro­duc­tion level is expected due to the high invest­ment that has been made in this sec­tor, par­tic­u­larly in the last decade,” Matos added.

Though there are cli­matic dif­fer­ences between the Alentejo in the south and the Trás-os-Montes region in north­ern Portugal, much of the coun­try expe­ri­enced a hot and dry grow­ing sea­son. Despite this, Matos said olive trees resist drought well, and ​“this year’s dif­fer­ences [in cli­mate] did not greatly affect olive pro­duc­tion in these regions.”

Ramon Rivera, man­ag­ing direc­tor of Elaia, a part­ner­ship that pro­duces olive oil largely in Portugal, said, ​“bloom­ing was good and olives have devel­oped in an aver­age quan­tity,” in Elaia’s Portuguese groves. He agreed that 2019 is shap­ing up to be a bet­ter har­vest in Portugal than last year, even if it is not as good as in other parts of Europe.

“The Portuguese grow­ing sea­son is going bet­ter than last year, although not as good as the news we hear from Italy or Greece,” Rivera said. Those two coun­tries, in par­tic­u­lar, expe­ri­enced his­tor­i­cally poor grow­ing sea­sons last year.

Spain pro­vides an inter­est­ing coun­ter­point to Portugal. Even though the coun­tries share the Iberian Peninsula, it is Portugal that appears to be in bet­ter shape in 2019.

“Spain is in counter-cycle with the major other European pro­duc­ing coun­tries,” Matos said. ​“Last sea­son, Spain recorded a very high cam­paign, and as far as we know at this point, a much lower olive oil pro­duc­tion is expected next sea­son.”

Rivera added that Elaia’s groves in Spain are ​“going to have a good crop, even though Spain is not expect­ing a good cam­paign due to lack of rain and last year’s great har­vest.”

Both Rivera and Matos said they are not expect­ing pest or dis­ease to ham­per har­vest in Portugal this year, and the drought con­di­tions, in fact, are help­ing stave off those hin­drances.

“If the weather con­tin­ues to be dry and hot, major dis­eases or pests that neg­a­tively affect qual­ity will not be expected, and in these cir­cum­stances, the qual­ity will be high,” Matos said.

Matos said the biggest obsta­cle to Portuguese pro­duc­ers in 2019 is the mar­ket. Even though yields have climbed in recent years — Portugal will har­vest more than 100,000 tons for three years in a row this year after dip­ping to 61,000 tons and 69,000 tons in 2014 and 2016 — the indus­try faces sev­eral chal­lenges.

“As in other European pro­ducer coun­tries, the main prob­lem that the sec­tor is fac­ing in Portugal is the low prices of the olive oil, which do not suf­fi­ciently pay pro­duc­ers, par­tic­u­larly in the more tra­di­tional pro­duc­tion areas, with higher pro­duc­tion costs and lower prof­itabil­ity,” Matos said.

Matos said har­vest­ing will begin across the coun­try in October, which is typ­i­cal. Rivera said Elaia’s part­ner pro­duc­ers will har­vest slightly ​“ear­lier than last cam­paign.”

• European Union Olive Oil Market sit­u­a­tions