TIRANA, August 3/ATA/ –Albania is expanding the export of “Made in Albania” olive oil.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Bledi Çuçi released concrete figures that show that the export of olive oil increased significantly last year to 174 tons, compared with 2010 when this indicator marked 15 tons of exports.
According to official statistics in 2019 the production of olives marked the amount of 98,313 tons and the production of olive oil in the same year reached 20,038 tons.
The highest amount of olive production is recorded in the region of Berat with over 38 thousand tons, followed by the regions of Fier with about 33 thousand tons and Vlora with over 17 thousand tons.
Domestic production of olives covers the needs of consumption in the domestic market and a significant part of this production goes into processing for olive oil.
According to INSTAT, out the total olive production, 79% is represented by olives oil and 21% by olives for the table.
Investments in the olive oil processing industry have improved the quality and standards of this product, which is already in high demand for export to European markets.
Olive culture in Albania is a centuries-old tradition, the value and importance of this product in recent years is being intensively supported by the government.
1 million euros was the fund disbursed a year and a half ago, as grants for the project “Sustainable development of the olive sector”, which supports farmers to increase the area planted with olives, to improve mechanization and increase production capacity of olive oil. /a.g/p.s./
