Data from the National Observatory of Agriculture showed that the quantities exported from the beginning of the season in November until the end of July amounted to about 368 thousand tons, recording a jump of 55.3% compared to the same period last season. As a result, export revenues increased by 44.4% to reach about 4.61 billion dinars.
In terms of destinations, the European Union topped the list of importers with a share of 57.1%, followed by North American markets with 24%, while the rest were distributed among more than 70 countries that included Arab and African markets, and extra virgin olive oil accounted for the largest percentage, with 83.6% of the total shipments.
Despite these positive numbers, the data indicated the continued dominance of “bulk oil,” which constituted about 86% of the total quantities exported, compared to only 14% for packaged oil, which highlights the ongoing challenge facing the Tunisian economy to enhance local packaging and raise the added value before exporting green gold.
