Turkey's Table Olive Exports Reach Record High

Summary

Turkey exported a record-high $255 mil­lion of table olives in the 2024/25 crop year, with green olives see­ing a sig­nif­i­cant increase and black olives con­tin­u­ing to dom­i­nate. Emre Uygun of EZZIB pre­dicted that the 2025/26 crop year could be even bet­ter, aim­ing to reach $300 mil­lion in table exports, with the U.S. iden­ti­fied as a strate­gic mar­ket for Turkish olive oil exports.

Turkey has exported a record-high $255 (€218) mil­lion of table olives in the 2024/25 crop year, slightly exceed­ing ini­tial esti­mates of $250 (€214) mil­lion.

Emre Uygun, the chair of the Aegean Olive and Olive Oil Exports’ Association (EZZIB), said export rev­enues from black and green table olives rose by 22 per­cent com­pared to the pre­vi­ous sea­son.

Green olive exports saw the most sig­nif­i­cant increase, ris­ing by 29 per­cent to $61 (€52) mil­lion, but black olive exports con­tin­ued to dom­i­nate, reach­ing $194 (€166) mil­lion after a 19 per­cent rise.

Uygun added that the 100,884 met­ric tons of table olives exported were the sec­ond high­est by quan­tity, slightly exceeded by the 110,000 tons exported in 2021/22.

According to EZZIB data, Germany, Iraq and Romania were the top des­ti­na­tions for black olives, while Iraq, Germany and the United States were the lead­ing mar­kets for green olives.

The export increase was fueled by a record-break­ing table olive and olive oil har­vest in 2024/25, and Uygun pre­dicted that 2025/26 could be even bet­ter.

“We expect a table olive yield sim­i­lar to last sea­son for the 2025/26 crop year,” he said. ​“We believe that recent rain­fall will enhance olive yields and qual­ity. Considering the recov­ery fore­cast­ers in global prices, we aim to reach $300 (€257) mil­lion in table exports in 2025/26.”

News of the boun­ti­ful table olive exports comes a few months after sep­a­rate data from the EZZIB indi­cated that Turkish olive oil exporters are mak­ing inroads in the U.S., which the asso­ci­a­tion has iden­ti­fied as a strate­gic mar­ket.

Shipments of Turkish olive oil to the U.S. in the first nine months of the 2024/25 crop year increased by 54 per­cent com­pared to the pre­vi­ous year, ris­ing to 19,040 tons.

Along with the bumper crop and the lift­ing of export restric­tions, Turkish table olive and olive oil exports face a ten per­cent tar­iff imposed by the U.S., com­par­a­tively low to the duties fac­ing other major table olive and olive oil exporters.

According to World Bank data, Turkey is the fourth-largest vir­gin and extra vir­gin olive oil exporter to the U.S., after Italy, Spain and Tunisia. Turkey is also the third largest non-vir­gin olive oil exporter to the U.S. after Spain and Italy.

U.S.-bound exports from the European Union now face a 15 per­cent tar­iff, while Tunisia faces a 25 per­cent tar­iff.

The EZZIB empha­sized that the U.S. mar­ket is essen­tial for a range of its olive prod­ucts. The association’s data shows that table olives, olive oil and pomace oil exports gen­er­ated $480 (€410) mil­lion in for­eign cur­rency in the 2024/25 crop year, of which $118 (€101) mil­lion came from the U.S.

“Pomace oil exports increased by 21 per­cent to $17 (€15) mil­lion, black olive exports increased by 16 per­cent to $10 (€8.6) mil­lion, and green olive exports increased by 20 per­cent to $4.2 (€3.6) mil­lion,” Uygun said.

World Bank data indi­cates that the U.S. is the sec­ond-largest des­ti­na­tion for Turkish vir­gin and extra vir­gin olive oil exports, after Spain, and the lead­ing des­ti­na­tion for non-vir­gin olive oil exports.

“We are striv­ing to strengthen our posi­tion in the U.S. mar­ket,” he added. ​“Our goal is to reach a 10 per­cent mar­ket share in the U.S.”

• Turkish Agrinews
• Aydin Denge