Ministry points finger at foreign and domestic producers, traders and olive oil price hike

The Food, Agriculture and Livestock Ministry issued a statement regarding record olive oil prices, pointing the finger at poor harvests from the largest producers in Spain and Italy as well as blaming domestic producers and traders for stockpiling their products to benefit from further price hikes.

The statement said Spain's average production of 1.5 million tons of olive oil had dropped to 750,000 tons, while Italy's production dropped from 650,000 tons to 350,000 tons. Overall production is expected to drop by 23 percent to 2.3 million tons, the statement said. It also emphasized that Turkey broke its export record this year with 92,000 tons, which had increased from an average of 15,000 to 20,000 tons.

The ministry said Turkey produces an average of 190,000 tons of olive oil, of which 150,000 tons are being consumed domestically.

The price of olive oil per liter in retail stores has recently exceeded TL 20 ($7.40).