`Plans for an Exporters Consortium in Algeria - Olive Oil Times

Plans for an Exporters Consortium in Algeria

By Isabel Putinja
Jun. 8, 2015 09:59 UTC

Plans for the cre­ation of a con­sor­tium of olive oil exporters in Algeria is expected to offer sup­port to local pro­duc­ers and pro­mote Algerian olive oil on the inter­na­tional mar­ket.

The pro­posal was announced at an infor­ma­tion day held on April 29th in Algiers on the Algerian olive indus­try orga­nized by ALGEX, the national agency for the pro­mo­tion of exports.

According to a rep­re­sen­ta­tive of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the con­sor­tium will be set up under a devel­op­ment pro­gram imple­mented by UNIDO and the min­istry of the indus­try aimed at diver­si­fy­ing the national econ­omy.

Among inter­na­tional pro­duc­ers of olive oil, Algeria is in 9th posi­tion, with an annual pro­duc­tion of only 62,000 tons, mak­ing com­pe­ti­tion with larger olive pro­duc­ing coun­tries a chal­lenge.

According to ALGEX, olive oil exports were val­ued at $200,000 in 2013, and half that amount the pre­vi­ous year. An increase in olive pro­duc­tion is expected in com­ing years thanks to the intro­duc­tion of a sys­tem of inten­sive farm­ing which should open up the pos­si­bil­ity of exports, espe­cially to China, the U.S. and Japan where olive oil con­sump­tion is increas­ing.

The experts at the meet­ing unan­i­mously agreed that a fail­ure to adhere to inter­na­tional qual­ity stan­dards is a major obsta­cle to the export of Algerian olive prod­ucts. They pointed to the need for cer­ti­fied lab­o­ra­to­ries meet­ing inter­na­tional require­ments while local pro­duc­ers empha­sized the need to respect inter­na­tional norms with regard to har­vest tech­niques, pro­cess­ing and the stor­age of the oil to pre­serve qual­ity.

The pro­posed con­sor­tium is expected to offer mem­bers the pos­si­bil­ity to col­lab­o­rate in order to increase pro­duc­tiv­ity, improve qual­ity, boost exports, con­trol prices, and enhance their power of nego­ti­a­tion.

Such a body could also rep­re­sent mem­bers at state insti­tu­tions for the assis­tance and tech­ni­cal means required to guar­an­tee prod­uct qual­ity. The ini­tia­tive could result in the devel­op­ment of the Algerian olive oil sec­tor and ulti­mately a bet­ter qual­ity olive oil.



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