Following the elimination of import tariffs on olive oil packaged in Spain, exports have increased 37.5%. Meanwhile the US imports grew by 1.43%.
Predictably, the elimination by the United States of import tariffs on olive oils packaged in Spain caused tremors in the market. Exports of olive oils from Spain have shot up 37.50% to 57,402 tons in the first half of the year. A period in which total imports from the United States have grown by 1.43%, to 207,522 tons.
Olive oil market recovery
This means Spain recovered a part of the market that fell away after the imposition of the additional tariffs on packaged Spanish olive oils. In fact, until June, Spain achieved a share of 27.66% of total imports. That is seven points more than reached in the same period of 2020. Thus, it surpasses Tunisia, which in 2020 was ranked as the second supplier of olive oil to the United States.
Most importantly, Spanish oils pave the way to jump back to top spot from two years ago. Specifically, in the first half of 2019, Spain accounted for 41.67% of total imports to that market; almost ten points more than its most immediate competitor.
Repositioning as leaders in US
The president of the Spanish Olive Oil Interprofessional, Pedro Barato, is satisfied with the data. He feels it predicts a return to normality in the largest olive oil market outside Europe.
“The reality is that Spain is the natural leader in the olive oil market in the United States and it is only a matter of time before we will regain the position that we have struggled to achieve. But these data have another reading. They endorse the promotion strategy that we have developed in that country, even in the worst of the commercial and health crisis. We have continued betting on the North American consumer. Now, we obtain our reward, to reposition ourselves as leaders in the country, which is the third largest consumer of oils in the world with some 400,000 tons per year.”
