Good year for olive oil

Producing 15 kilos costs $70, sells at $100

Olive growers called on the Cabinet to support the marketing of olive oil this season. Farmers complained that while production costs are too high, the price of olive oil is coming down due to low demand and cheap imports.

Kassem Hassan, president of the agricultural cooperative in the Southern village of Arabsalim, said that unlike global prices which are regulated by the stock market, the local prices of olive oil are controlled by supply and demand. The price of one 15-kilo-container of olive oil reached $100 last year.

According to Hassan, the cost of producing 15-kilos of oil is around $70. The Ministry of Agriculture, on the other hand, estimated the cost of production at $46 per 15 kilos. He said farmers suffer from high labor costs: “Each worker can pick up to 60 kilos of olives each day. The daily wage of a worker reaches LL35,000.”

Hassan said the cost of pressing the oil are also high. It costs LL1,000 for pressing one kilo of olives. Five kilos of olives are needed to produce one kilo of oil. “We want the State to subsidize the price of pesticides and offer farmers modern harvesting machines in order to lower our production costs,” he said.

Hassan said the season is promising this year especially in Koura, Tyre, Nabatiyeh, and Hasbayah. “But the (abundance of the) harvest differs from one region to another, in some areas production is around 60 percent, while in others it is 40 percent,” said Hassan

“Locally, the average consumption of olive oil is 4.5 kilos per person per year, while in Europe it's around 16 kilos,” he said. Exports of olive oil are still weak. “We are unable to compete abroad at our current prices. One (15-kilo-container) of olive oil in some European countries sells at $60.”