CIHEAM Press Review

There is an active debate in Tunisia over the effectiveness of the government’s strategy to lower consumer prices more than a month after it announced a price cap on domestic olive oil sales.

In December 2023, the government capped the price of olive oil distributed by the National Olive Oil Office (ONH) at 15 dinars (€4.55) in local supermarkets due to concerns that prices were rising faster than household incomes. At the time, local olive oil prices at retail were expected to rise to 25 dinars (€7.40) per liter.

The 4E Board has decided to honor five Greek female individuals who have made significant contributions to the improvement of the olive- and olive oil-producing sector, and to promoting the value of olive and olive oil in the Mediterranean Diet, health and culture.

Authorities are asking for changes to the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy to remove economic burdens from olive and organic farmers.

Researchers from the European Union-funded Med-Gold project will present the results of a four-year study at an online con­fer­ence at the end of March.

Nearly 280,000 hectares of olive groves in Italy are now cul­ti­vated using organic farm­ing prac­tices, com­pared to approx­i­mately 170,000 hectares a decade ago. According to 2023 data com­piled by the Italian Institute of Services for the Agricultural Food Market (ISMEA), organic olive groves rep­re­sent a sig­nif­i­cant por­tion of Italy’s organic farm­ing area.

The cur­rent olive har­vest in Albania has reached record num­bers. Still, local pro­duc­ers must cope with uncer­tain export oppor­tu­ni­ties and low prod­uct prices. The Ministry of Agriculture esti­mates the cur­rent cam­paign could end well above expec­ta­tions, with around 25 thou­sand tons of olive oil. Experts say the pro­duc­tion growth results from good cli­mate con­di­tions and long-stand­ing invest­ments to expand pro­duc­tion. According to International Olive Council (IOC) data, Albania pro­duced 11.5 thou­sand tons in the 2021/2022 sea­son. If con­firmed, the lat­est harvest’s results would be much higher than any pre­vi­ous cam­paign’s.