India’s imports of olive oil are expected to rise by 20 per­cent, accord­ing to the Indian Olive Association.

Due to ris­ing demands for olive oil among urban Indian con­sumers, it is esti­mated that 13,500 tons will need to be imported dur­ing the cur­rent fis­cal year. So far this year, 11,106 tons of olive oil have been imported, with 65 per­cent sourced from Spain, the world’s largest pro­ducer of olive oil, as well as Italy and Turkey.
See more: Olive Oil Imports and Exports
As reported in The Economic Times, the Indian Olive Association’s pres­i­dent, Rajneesh Bhasin, announced that 3,062 tons of olive oil was imported in the three-month period from April to June, rep­re­sent­ing a 19-per­cent increase com­pared to a year ago.

Based on these fig­ures, sim­i­lar growth is expected in com­ing months, accord­ing to Bhasin, and imports were down last year due to high global olive oil prices, increased import duties, and a weak Rupee against the Euro.

Though India is exper­i­ment­ing with olive pro­duc­tion in the state of Rajasthan, domes­tic olive oil is not yet avail­able on the Indian mar­ket, and imports are nec­es­sary to sat­isfy demand.

Indians con­sume a small amount of olive oil com­pared to other oils: only 0.1 per­cent of the 17 mil­lion tons of edi­ble oils con­sumed every year. A three-year adver­tis­ing cam­paign pro­mot­ing olive oil was launched in India in 2014 with the mes­sage that olive oil is a healthy alter­na­tive to other oils and suit­able for Indian cui­sine.

Today there are over 90 olive oil brands com­pet­ing for Indian con­sumers, with olive pomace oil dom­i­nat­ing the mar­ket.

• Economic Times
• Industry Today (UK)