Drought and Low Yields Push Jordan to Explore Olive Oil Imports

Summary

Olive oil pro­duc­tion in Jordan has plum­meted due to drought and alter­nate fruit-bear­ing cycles, prompt­ing the gov­ern­ment to con­sider lim­ited imports from Tunisia, Lebanon, and Spain. The Ministry of Agriculture has intro­duced tem­po­rary mea­sures to address short­ages, includ­ing allow­ing Palestinian fam­i­lies to bring up to 70 liters of olive oil annu­ally and sus­pend­ing exports of green olives.

Olive oil pro­duc­tion in Jordan has fallen to some of its low­est lev­els in years, prompt­ing the gov­ern­ment to explore lim­ited imports from Tunisia, Lebanon, and Spain to sta­bi­lize the mar­ket.

The sharp decline stems from the com­bined effects of drought and the olive tree’s alter­nate fruit-bear­ing cycle. According to data from the International Olive Council, Jordan pro­duced an aver­age of 25,500 tons of olive oil over the past five sea­sons — typ­i­cally enough to cover domes­tic con­sump­tion of around 22,000 tons per year.

Unofficial esti­mates sug­gest national out­put could fall by as much as 50 per­cent this sea­son, with some regions report­ing even steeper losses. In Ajloun gov­er­norate, pro­duc­tion is expected to drop by 70 per­cent, accord­ing to JordanZad. While Ajloun accounts for only about 10 per­cent of total out­put, its extra vir­gin olive oils are prized for their qual­ity.

“This is the least fruit­ful sea­son I have seen in my life,” said Hadi Qureishat, a local farmer. ​“Last year, five sacks of olives pro­duced 50 to 55 kilos of oil. This year, the same amount yielded only 20 to 22 kilos.” He blamed the dry con­di­tions and lack of rain for the dis­ap­point­ing har­vest.

Despite the down­turn, some irri­gated areas are show­ing resilience. According to Ammon News, pro­duc­tion in irri­gated olive-grow­ing regions is expected to dou­ble last year’s vol­umes. Between 22 and 23 per­cent of Jordan’s olive orchards are irri­gated, accord­ing to research pub­lished in the Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology.

Olive trees cover roughly 20 per­cent of Jordan’s agri­cul­tural land and account for about 75 per­cent of the fruit crop area, mak­ing them the country’s most sig­nif­i­cant crop. But with stocks dwin­dling and yields down, olive oil prices have climbed sharply. In most areas, extra vir­gin olive oil now sells for around €9.80 per liter — a record price for Jordan and com­pa­ra­ble to pre­mium retail lev­els in south­ern Europe.

To ease short­ages, the Ministry of Agriculture has intro­duced tem­po­rary mea­sures. Each Palestinian fam­ily cross­ing into Jordan may now bring up to 70 liters of olive oil annu­ally, accord­ing to Nabaa Jordan. The rule aims to sup­port small­holder fam­i­lies through direct sales despite ongo­ing import restric­tions.

The Ministry has also sus­pended all exports of green olives this sea­son, direct­ing grow­ers to process their crops domes­ti­cally. Still, the Olive Press Owners Association warned that prices could rise fur­ther in the com­ing weeks.

The asso­ci­a­tion has also crit­i­cized cer­tain inter­me­di­aries accused of spec­u­lat­ing on final prices. In response, the gov­ern­ment urged con­sumers to buy only from cer­ti­fied olive oil mills to avoid fraud­u­lent prod­ucts.

To safe­guard qual­ity, the Ministry launched a nation­wide ini­tia­tive titled ​“Test Your Olive Oil, Make Sure It’s Genuine.” Through this pro­gram, con­sumers can have their oil tested in cer­ti­fied lab­o­ra­to­ries and access edu­ca­tional mate­ri­als on olive oil qual­ity at par­tic­i­pat­ing mills.

Officials have also advised fam­i­lies to avoid buy­ing large quan­ti­ties early in the sea­son, warn­ing that exces­sive demand could push prices even higher. A final deci­sion on import poli­cies is expected within days.