Andalusia's Exports Reach Record €2.5 Billion
The Spanish region surpassed €2.5 billion in olive oil exports in 2016, setting a new record.
Andalusia set a new record by surpassing €2.5 billion in olive oil exports in 2016, representing a 21.2 percent increase from the year before. The region’s top markets included Italy, the United States, and Portugal, with Seville leading in export sales at €1.219 billion.
The Spanish region Andalusia surpassed €2.5 billion in olive oil exports in 2016, setting a new record. The world’s leading olive oil-producing region exported 75 percent of the Spain’s total for the year, according to data released by the Agencia Andaluza de Promoción Exterior (Extenda).
Andalusia’s exports of €2.534 billion represented an increase of 21.2 percent from the year before and €300 million more than that of 2014.
Virgin oil it accounted for 73 percent of the exports and the sales for the product ended at a generous €1.85 billion, a 21.4 percent increase over 2015.
All of the top ten markets for Spain increased their purchases of Andalusian olive oils in 2016:
- Italy bought 30 percent of the Andalusian exports with a total value of €761 million, or 11.2 percent more than in 2015;
- In second place was the United States which imported €367 million from Andalusia — 60 percent more than in 2015 and 14.5 percent of the Spanish region’s export total;
- Portugal brought in €266 million, a 26.6 percent increase that accounted for 10 percent of the total;
- France took in €226 million of Andalusian olive oil, a 16.9 percent rise (8.9 percent of the total);
- The United Kingdom imported €108 million worth of olive oil from the Spanish region, a 9.3 percent increase.
- China was in sixth place with €108 million (an increase of 11 percent) and Japan’s imports totaled €84 million ( a 2.9 percent rise).
- Nearly doubling its Andalusian imports, Australia registered a total of €63 million, 85 percent over the previous year, and Germany increased its purchases by 95 percent to €51 million.
Seville led the region in export sales with a total of €1.219 billion, or 48 percent of the Andalusian total, up by one-third from the previous year.
Córdoba was in second place with €535 million and accounted for 21.1 percent of the market. Málaga registered €349 million with an increase of 16 percent in sales, followed by Jaén with a €265 million accounting for 10.5 percent of the total.
Granada exported a value of €144 million (5.7 percent of the total) — 33 percent less than in 2015. Almería had 13.4 million in sales and a slight rise of 1.8 percent.
The region of Andalusia alone exported almost €1 billion more in olive oil than all of Italy.
U.S. sales of olive oil from Andalusia tripled from 2010 to 2016 to reach €367 million last year. Sales to China rose to €108 million — three times the Italian exports to the growing olive oil market.
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