Tunisia olive oil exports jump 53% in 2006
Tunisia’s key olive oil exports jumped by 53 percent to 167 700 t last year as a government campaign to boost exports bore fruit, official data showed on Thursday.
Olive oil, whose popularity is growing among health-conscious consumers worldwide, represents half of the North African country’s farm sales which in turn account more than 10% of total exports.
The value of Tunisia’s olive oil exports surged to 828,9-million dinars last year from 476,7-million in 2005 as a drop in output from top producer Spain underpinned prices.
Tunisia’s domestic olive crop grew to 220 000 tonnes from 130 000 tonnes in 2005, compared to an average 145 000 tonnes over the past decade. It expects a crop of 170 000 tonnes this year.
More than 500 000 families depend on the labour-intensive olive oil industry in the country of 10-million, where 56-million olive trees cover around 1,6-milion hectares.
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Thursday, March 1st, 2007 at 5:18 pm under
