The drought of the spring season that affected the main olive oil exporting countries, such as Spain and Italy, added to the shortage of the product in Europe and strengthened the selling prices by 25 to 60% on foreign exchanges.
Consequently, the lack of olive oil in the European market has created a demand boom from Italian industrialists for Albanian olive oil.
Albanian farmers are benefiting from this production vacuum, who, in 2022, faced a superproduction of olive oil that they stored at home.
Now, the farmer's olive oil is returning to the collection points to be exported to Italy. Refineries claim that the selling price is below cost.
The Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Arian Jaupllari, claimed for "Monitor" that the exports of the 4th month of 2023 have quadrupled compared to the annual exports of 2022.
He said that taking into consideration the effects of climate change that brought drought to the main producing and exporting countries of Europe, several cooperation agreements have been signed to promote olive and olive oil exports to the Italian and European markets.
In addition to them, the Ministry of Agriculture, according to him, is implementing the strategy to support farmers with subsidies and other programs, to reduce production costs and increase exports as an added value of the economy.
"Minister Krifca, together with her Italian counterpart Francesco Lollobrigida, have signed the cooperation agreement for the promotion of olive and olive oil exports in the Italian and European market.
These mechanisms and others were established, taking into consideration the effects of climate change, which have brought drought in Spain, Italy and France, creating the conditions to increase the competitiveness of Albanian olive oil.
Edhe shifrat e muajve të parë të këtij viti i kanë dhënë të drejtë kësaj strategjie, pasi shohim se në 4 muajt e parë të 2023 kemi eksportuar mbi 1,258 tonë, ndërsa gjatë vitit 2022 kemi eksportuar 326 tonë.
Ministria, së bashku me ekspertët dhe sektorin privat, po vazhdojnë bashkëpunimin që prodhimi dhe eksporti i vajit të ullirit të jetë një tjetër histori suksesi e bujqësisë shqiptare”, pohon zv.ministri Jaupllari.
Sipas të dhënave paraprake të Ministrisë së Bujqësisë dhe Zhvillimit Rural, në vitin 2022, prodhimi i vajit të ullirit është 13% më shumë se në vitin 2021. Krahasuar me vitin 2020, prodhimi është shtuar me 42%. Ndërsa në vitin 2021, prodhimi i vajit të ullirit ishte rreth 26% më shumë se viti 2020.
"Official statistics are published in June in INSTAT. According to preliminary statistics processed by the ministry, we have a production of 29.2 thousand tons of olive oil and about 157.7 thousand tons of olives. Meanwhile, in 2021 we had 110 thousand tons of olives and 25.8 thousand tons of olive oil", asserted the Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Arian Jaupllari.
Taken with abbreviations from monitor.al
