Turkish Olive Oil Exports to Australia Surge Amid Strategic Trade Push

Summary

Turkish olive and olive oil exports to Australia more than dou­bled in the 2024/25 crop year, as part of a strat­egy to diver­sify away from Europe. The surge in exports was dri­ven by a record-break­ing har­vest, lift­ing of export bans, and suc­cess­ful trade mis­sions, with the goal of secur­ing a 20 per­cent share of the Australian mar­ket.

Turkish table olive and olive oil exports to Australia more than dou­bled in the 2024/25 crop year, accord­ing to the Aegean Olive and Olive Oil Exporters’ Association (EZZIB).

This surge comes as part of the Turkish Ministry of Trade’s strat­egy to diver­sify away from Europe, which makes up nearly 58 per­cent of olive oil exports by value.

The strat­egy included a September 2024 trade mis­sion to Australia, where 11 com­pa­nies held more than 100 bilat­eral meet­ings with importers.

See Also:Turkish Table Olive Exports Set to Reach Record-High $250 Million

The EZZIB said olive oil exports jumped by 162 per­cent, ris­ing from 1.7 to 4.6 mil­lion Australian dol­lars (€950,000 to €2.6 mil­lion), while table olive exports rose 85 per­cent, reach­ing 1.45 mil­lion Australian dol­lars (€810,000).

A record-break­ing har­vest in the 2024/25 crop year, com­bined with the lift­ing of a ban on bulk olive oil exports and the trade mis­sions, are among the rea­sons for the dra­matic increase.

“The inter­est in healthy foods in Australia is extremely high,” added Emre Uygun, the chair­man of the EZZIB. ​“Olives and olive oil are among the well-known and pre­ferred prod­ucts among Australian con­sumers,” with com­bined imports of around 200 mil­lion Australian dol­lars (€111 mil­lion) annu­ally.

“We are steadily pro­gress­ing toward our goal of secur­ing a 20 per­cent share of the Australian mar­ket,” Uygun added.

He fur­ther pointed out that the suc­cess is par­tic­u­larly valu­able dur­ing a period when global olive oil prices have dropped by more than 50 per­cent and Turkey’s over­all exports have declined by 39 per­cent.

World Bank data indi­cate that Turkey was the fourth-largest exporter to Australia in 2023, account­ing for 3.6 per­cent of total vir­gin and extra-vir­gin olive oil by value and 4.5 per­cent by vol­ume. Spain, Italy, and Greece are Australia’s largest sup­pli­ers of olive oil.

On the other hand, Australia was the eleventh most valu­able mar­ket for Turkish exporters in 2023, account­ing for less than 1% of total vir­gin and extra-vir­gin olive oil exports by value.

Spain is the pri­mary des­ti­na­tion for Turkey’s vir­gin and extra-vir­gin olive oil exports, account­ing for slightly less than half of the total, fol­lowed by the United States, Italy, and Saudi Arabia. 

The table olive trade rela­tion between the two coun­tries fol­lows a sim­i­lar story, with Turkey being the fourth-largest exporter to Australia, which is the twenty-third most valu­able mar­ket for Turkish table olives.

According to the EZZIB, black olive exports to Australia nearly dou­bled, ris­ing from 613,000 to 1.2 mil­lion Australian dol­lars (€340,000 to €670,000). Meanwhile, green olive exports increased by 50 per­cent, reach­ing 261,000 Australian dol­lars (€145,000).

Uygun said the bilat­eral busi­ness meet­ings held in Australia ​“played a sig­nif­i­cant role in the suc­cess” of increas­ing olive oil and table olive exports. He is already plan­ning another trade del­e­ga­tion to Canada in September.

World Bank data show that Canada was the sixth most valu­able mar­ket for Turkish vir­gin and extra-vir­gin olive oil exports, reach­ing €10.7 mil­lion in 2023, and the four­teenth most valu­able for table olive exports.