Olive oil producers expect average harvest this season

AMMAN — The Kingdom's olive oil production is expected to range between 23,000 and 24,000 tonnes this season, according to olive oil producers and mills’ owners syndicate spokesperson Nidal Samain.

“Olive oil production this year would be sufficient to cover domestic consumption and exports. Currently we only have preliminary estimates, but when the season begins, things will become clearer,” Samain told The Jordan Times over the phone on Tuesday.

This year the price of a 16kg tank of olive oil would range between JD72 and JD82, depending on the quality and type, Samain added.

He noted that the initial estimates of the syndicate point to a decline in this year’s harvest compared with 2019.

“This year’s olive oil production would lower due to ‘the alternate bearing phenomenon’ which affects olive oil yield from year to year, causing high produce than average crop in one year and much lower than average in the following year,” the syndicate’s spokesperson said 

High temperatures are also expected to affect this year’s harvest, he added.

The syndicate will launch a promotional campaign next week in cooperation with the Jordan Food and Drug Administration (JFDA), to encourage the public to buy olive oil from trusted sources that have certified tags, he said.

Regarding Jordan’s olive oil exports to Europe, Samain said that the syndicate is in contact with the Dutch government to facilitate exports of Jordanian olive oil to the European markets, through developing market entry options and assessing the capabilities of the Kingdom’s mills.

Samain also pointed out that “an agreement was reached between the syndicate and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) with support from the Ministry of Agriculture, to study the reality in Jordan’s olive mills, with the aim to direct support from donors in the European Union to the deserving presses that would eventually qualify them for export,” Samain said.