Global sales of olive oil and olive pomace oil rallied in April, according to the International Olive Council’s latest market newsletter.
Imports in seven key countries for the first seven months of 2013/14 – October to April – totaled 341,288 tons, down just 2 percent on the same period last season, compared to 8 percent for the six months to March.
That’s thanks to a recovery in April in all of those markets except China, where imports this season are down 28 percent year-on-year.
Despite the April upswing, imports are also still down 9 percent in Brazil and 7 percent in Australia but now up 11 percent in Canada, 8 percent in Russia and 7 percent in Japan. Imports into the U.S. for October-April are about even with last season.
EU data was not yet available for April but for October – March, intra-EU acquisitions were up 5 percent and imports from outside the EU down 43 percent. The fall in extra-EU imports seems logical given the bumper harvest this season in Spain, the IOC said.
Spanish exports back up after low production last season
The IOC included a section on olive oil exports from Spain, which had a bad harvest last season and expects 2014/15 to be smaller than this season.
In the first half of 2013/14, Spain shipped a total of 562,824 tons – up 64 percent year-on-year. Of these, 247,863 tons (+144.5 percent) went to Italy, 58,650 tons to the U.S. (+140 percent), 57,761 tons to Portugal (+19.6 percent), 43,375 tons to France (+29.3 percent) and 22,251 tons to the U.K. (+6 percent). Spain’s sales also increased to Japan, Australia and Russia but fell in China (-29.4 percent) and Brazil (-34.2 percent).
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