Olive farmers to get 10% discount on price of pressing

AMMAN — To ensure that the price of olive oil remains within an affordable range, the government and leaders in the olive pressing sector have agreed to keep the price of pressing olive oil unchanged and to offer small olive farmers a discount on pressing their oil.اضافة اعلان

The decision was announced following a meeting between minister of agriculture, Khalid Al-Hneifat, and deputy president of the General Syndicate of the Olive Oil Press Owners, Taiseer Al-Najdawi.

Ministry spokesperson Lawrence Al-Majali said in remarks to Jordan News that the cost of olive pressing has remained the same for the past six years, while farmers with smaller orchards were also offered a 10 percent discount on the price of pressing their oil. Olive oil press owners will also accept to be paid by farmers in-kind; that is in olive oil, instead of cash.

Meanwhile, President of the Olive Oil Producers and Exporters Syndicate, Fayyad Al-Zyoud, said that this season’s olive harvest is expected to range between 160,000 to 170,000 tonnes, of which 15 to 20 percent will be pickled, while 23,000 to 24,000 tonnes of olive oil will be produced and 1,000 tonnes are expected to be exported.

He noted that the local market consumes 22,000 to 32,000 tonnes of olive oil annually, adding that the olive crop has been negatively affected by extreme weather conditions, such as heat waves, scarce rainfall, and climate change.

Zyoud said that COVID-19’s impact on household incomes has led to dwindling purchasing power of Jordanians, which has pushed down demand. He expects that the price of a 16-liter container of olive oil will drop to between JD70 to JD75 this year, down from highs of JD80 to JD85 for last season’s oil.

To boost exports ahead of the season, the government supported exporters with a subsidy of JD1 per kilo of exported oil, so they could sell what was left of last year’s oil by making the price more competitive in target markets.

Najdawi said the only rise in cost was the increase in the price of an empty tin container used to sell the oil in, the price of which rose last year from JD1.75 to JD2.50, expecting the figure to remain the same this year.


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