Woman picks 2.8 kilograms of olives in two minutes

A woman has collected 2 kilograms and 815 grams of olives in two minutes in the Aegean resort of Ayvalık over the weekend to win a harvest competition as part of the Second Olive Harvest Festival.

Aynur Kırca followed Sibel Bulut with 2 kilos and 845 grams in the same time period.
The annual crop celebration was held by the Ayvalık Agriculture Chamber in the Ayvalık district of the northwestern province of

Balıkesir.

“Olive is more than just the financial source of thousands of farmers or an ingredient in various cuisines and dishes. How great it is that we share the excitement of reaping the first harvest of the year. Every harvest is yet another hope, beginning,” Ayvalık Agriculture Chamber Chair Hasan Kıtay said.

“Ayvalık and the surrounding region produce top-quality, top-tasting olive oil. This is both an opportunity and a responsibility,” Kıtay added.

The olives were symbolically harvested and then turned into olive oil using the stone print method in the festival, which Balıkesir Mayor Rahmi Gençer also attended.

“When you say ‘olive,’ you think of Ayvalık,” Gençer said.

“Olive is a national treasure and we should protect it,” the mayor added.

Turkey should be able to sell its olive oil to European Union markets in a customs-free manner, just like it can do for olives, rather than on an inward-processing model, to give a boost to its exports, a leading sector player has said.

The head of the Aegean Olive and Olive Oil Exporters Association said Turkey made some 37 percent of its olive oil exports to Spain in the last 10 months.

The United States and Italy, another olive oil-rich European country, became Turkey’s other top markets in the mentioned period.

Turkey’s olive oil exports rose to 39,449 tons in the last 10 months on amount basis with a 339 year-on-year increase, according to data from the association.

On value-basis, Turkey made olive oil exports worth $152.6 million with a 266 percent year-on-year increase.