Olive oil stocks piling up

ISTANBUL

Türkiye’s olive oil sector has been struggling with restrictions on olive oil exports and is now grappling with excessive stocks.

“We already had tons of olive oil in our stocks from last year. On top of that, we have this year’s production coming in. There is no supply problem, but our new problem is excessive olive oil in the stocks,” said Ali Uçar, the head of the commerce association in the district of Ayvalık, one of Türkiye’s major olive oil production centers.

Uçar recalled that authorities introduced restrictions on olive oil exports to rein in the rising prices. But they need to reconsider this decision, he said.

Olive oil producers have 150,000 tons in their stocks from last year and the production in the 2023-2024 season is expected to be around 180,000 tons, according to Uçar.

“After domestic consumption, we will be left with around 200,000 tons of olive oil. We cannot keep this large amount of olive oil in stocks, because their quality will deteriorate in time.”

Uçar mainly blamed the export restrictions on the large amount of olive oil stocks.

The objective of the restrictions was to establish a balance in the domestic market and to encourage the export of packaged olive oil, which sells at higher prices, according to Uçar.

“However, the restriction did not yield the desired results. Packaged olive oil exports increased by 5 percent. The export restriction should be reconsidered,” he said.

Meanwhile the price of extra-virgin olive oil has been coming down.

Before December, the prices were hovering around 300 Turkish Liras per liter, but climbed above 500 liras, for some products the price was even higher at 700 liras.

Over the past month prices retreated to around 400 to 500 liras.

Companies that want to deplete their stocks are offering products at a cheaper price, according to the people from the industry.