Spain Regains Position of Second Largest Olive Oil Exporter to the U.S.
In the first half of 2021 olive oil exports from Spain to the U.S. increased by nearly 40 percent. Andalusian exports largely fueled the growth.
Spanish olive oil exports to the United States increased by 37.5 percent in the first half of 2021, according to data from the Interprofessional Association of Spanish Olive Oil.
Between January and June, olive oil shipments from Spain to the U.S. reached 57,402 tons. Over the same period, the U.S. imported 207,522 tons, an increase of slightly more than one percent compared with the same period last year.
We have continued to bet on the North American consumer.
Pedro Barato, the president of the Interprofessional, said that these figures indicate that Spain is well on its way to regaining its leading position in the U.S. olive oil market after the 25-percent tariff imposed on a variety of agricultural and manufacturing goods from France, Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom was temporarily suspended in March and permanently removed in June.
See Also: Olive Oil Trade News“We have continued to bet on the North American consumer,” Barato said. “Now, we get our reward, to reposition ourselves as leaders in the country that is the third-largest consumer of olive oils with about 400,000 tons a year.”
In the first half of 2021, Spanish olive oil imports made up about 28 percent of all olive oil shipments to the U.S., an increase of six percent compared with the same period last year.
Spain has now overtaken Tunisia as the second-largest olive oil exporter to the U.S. but still remains behind Italy.
Bottled olive oil exports to the U.S. fell by 80 percent in 2020 compared with 2019 as a result of the tariffs, which were imposed by the administration of former President Donald J. Trump over the decades-long dispute between the U.S. and European Union over illegal subsidies to aircraft manufacturers Boeing and Airbus.
Producers from Andalusia, Spain’s largest olive oil-producing region by a significant margin, are also celebrating an excellent start to 2021. According to the autonomous community’s provincial government, olive oil exports rose by about 18 percent in the first six months of the year.
Due to the continued recovery of olive oil prices in the region, the value of these exports reached about €1.3 billion.
“[Olive oil] is a primary reference for Andalusian exports due to its high quality and continues to be the key entry point for many other Andalusian agri-food products on the foreign market,” said Carmen Crespo, the Andalusian minister of agriculture, livestock, fisheries and sustainable development.
Daniel Dawson contributed to this report.