A report by GEA Iberia reveals that olive oil is already produced in 56 countries on five continents, representing nine more than the 47 countries recorded in the previous study.
Aspects such as geopolitical disintegration of certain nations, climate change or simple adaptation and expansion of olive cultivation to other latitudes, are some of the reasons has revealed the executive vice president of GEA. Among the new producing countries are El Salvador, Ethiopia, Kuwait, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Macedonia reports Vilar. He also adds that this is preliminary data from a study of greater dimension and depth that will be released next year.
The addition of nine additional countries to the establishment of olive oil producers merely increase demand prospects through constant expansion of consumption opportunities for familiarity. In this regard, countries like El Salvador or Yemen already have specific days of the year for the celebration of the day of the olive tree, or oil, a fact that confirms its cultural roots.
The report also shows that the total number of hectares planted amounts to 11,316,000, which meant an increase of almost 15% over the past 15 years. By continents, most olive growing area is in Europe (60%), followed by Africa (27%), Asia (10%), America (2%) and Oceania (less than 1%).
source: Agroinformación