18 June 2018

Información para la Prensa N°: 254/18

Session of the International Olive Council begins in Argentina

Under the Argentine Presidency of the International Olive Council (IOC) in 2018, the 107th session of this international body started today at the Palacio San Martín and meetings will run through Thursday 21 June with a view to identifying opportunities and challenges of the olive oil and table olives sector and defining joint policies for the future.

The meetings will be chaired by Argentina and attended by officials and technical teams of the Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Agro-industry. The Undersecretary for Commercial Strategy and Economic Promotion, Javier Arana, and the Secretary for Food and Bioeconomy, Andrés Murchison, welcomed foreign delegations, provincial authorities and private sector representatives.

During the week, several activities and meetings will be held, which will be attended by the Secretary for International Economic Relations of the Foreign Ministry, Horacio Reyser, and, on behalf of the Ministry of Agro-industry, by the Secretary for Agro-industrial Markets, Marisa Bircher; the Secretary for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Guillermo Bernaudo; the Undersecretary for Agriculture,  Luis Urriza, and National Directors Ignacio Garciarena and Mercedes Nimo, among others.

The meetings are chaired by Eduardo Tempone, from Argentina, who is the Chairperson of the IOC, which will also be represented by its highest-ranking authority, Executive Director Abdellatif Ghedira.

In the presence of representatives of the 14 IOC member countries and observers, this meeting is the most important global event of the olive oil and table olives sector. IOC members account for 98% of producers and 71% of consumers, including Argentina, Algeria, Egypt, the European Union, Israel, Lebanon, Morocco, Turkey and Uruguay, among others.

Over the next few days, there will be meetings of the IOC Technical Committees on financial, economic, chemical, technological and environmental issues. The purpose of the meetings is to make decisions that contribute to achieving the general goals of the Organization regarding the promotion, trade and consumption of olive-related products.

These sessions are being held in a global context of increased production, consumption and international trade in the sector. According to estimates of the IOC, prospects for the 2017/18 campaign show a 25% increase in global production vis-a-vis the 2016/2017 cycle, and, for the same period, global consumption and exports are expected to increase by 8% and 26%, respectively.

At the national level, Argentina is actively working towards becoming a new leading actor in the global olive sector outside the Mediterranean. This is reflected in the fact that Argentina is the leading olive producer and exporter in America and the world's fifth producer of olive oil, following the European Union, Tunisia, Syria and Turkey. Such performance is also reflected in a 116% estimated increase in olive oil exports in the 2017/18 period vis-a-vis the previous period.

 

      OLIVE-GROWING IN ARGENTINA

Argentina is the world's 5th exporter and 7th producer of table olives, and, as for olive oil, it is the world's 6th largest exporter and 10th largest producer.

There is currently an olive acreage of 90,000 hectares distributed in Buenos Aires, Catamarca, Cordoba, La Rioja, Mendoza, Río Negro and San Juan, in addition to new expansion projects in the provinces of Neuquén, Salta and San Luis.

In 2017, over 110 Argentine companies exported olive-related products amounting to over USD 220 million to more than 30 destinations.

 

    THE OLIVE-GROWING SECTOR IN AMERICA

This week's activities will conclude on Friday 22 June with an International Seminar of the Olive Sector, jointly organized by the Argentine Government and the IOC, which will be opened by the Minister of Agro-industry, Luis Miguel Etchevehere.

Several issues concerning value chains will be addressed at the seminar in the presence of national and international experts, including: the situation and prospects of the olive oil and table olives sector in the world and in America; olive oil and health; marketing and trends in trade in olive-related products; and virgin olive oil tasting and a laboratories network.

In addition to the seminar, there will be two business rounds with importers from the main destinations buying our products, which will take place in the City of Buenos Aires and La Rioja.