- Title: SYRIA: Olive oil industry continues to flourish
- Date: 9th November 2010
- Summary: VARIOUS OF WOMAN SITTING UNDER A TREE AND PICKING THE OLIVES VARIOUS OF OLIVE TREES/OLIVES ON TREES DAMASCUS, SYRIA (NOVEMBER 8, 2010) (REUTERS) MUNEER AL-WADI, MANAGING EDITOR OF LOCAL AND ECONOMIC AFFAIRS IN SYRIAN TISHREEN NEWSPAPER, TALKING DECORATIVE SIGN WITH MUNEER AL-WADI'S NAME (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MUNEER AL-WADI, MANAGING EDITOR OF LOCAL AND ECONOMIC AFFAIRS IN SYRIAN TISHREEN NEWSPAPER, SAYING "There's a yearly surplus for export and it's increasing. It reached 50 thousand tonnes of olive oil. Syrians are looking for foreign markets to export this produce since Syrian olives are considered to be of the highest quality. Lately we saw how Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez gave a boost to Syrian olive oil and considered it as one of the best olive oils in the world." SAFITA, SYRIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) OLD OLIVE MILL MEN CARRYING SACK OF OLIVES OLIVES BEING POURED OUT OF SACK VARIOUS OF SQUEEZING PROCESS OLIVE OIL GHASSAN KHOURY, OWNER OF AN OLIVE MILL (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) GHASSAN KHOURY, OWNER OF AN OLIVE MILL, SAYING: "The olive production this year was medium because of the lack of rain and the natural factors." OLIVES BEING PREPARED FOR SQUEEZING OLIVES ON CONVEYOR BELT IN MILL MORE OF OLIVES OIL RUNNING INTO A BASIN MORE OF OIL WORKERS PUTTING PLASTIC CONTAINERS ON TO VAN
- Embargoed: 24th November 2010 12:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: Industry
- Reuters ID: LVABOF3GH611RFSUCHC3G4WJQDSD
- Story Text: Syria's olive oil industry continues to flourish with an expected production of around 200 thousand tonnes for this year as the 2010 season olives continue to be pressed.
Syria has a long tradition of olive and olive oil production, with it now being one of the largest cash crops in the country alongside cotton and wheat.
There are about 91 million olive trees in Syrian, 66.5 million of them for fruit production and the remainder for olive oil production. Many local dishes are considered incomplete without a splash of the peppery, green liquid.
The country's olive oil market received a recent boost when Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez declared it the world's finest, backing that up with a big purchase.
Syrian president Bashar al-Assad said Venezuela had bought 40,000 tonnes of Syrian olive oil that was shipped by sea last month, as well as 20,000 tonnes sent by air following a trip by Assad to Caracas in June.
No prices have been made public for either purchase.
Syria is one of the world's largest olive oil producers, but poor marketing has kept prices mostly low at $60 per 20 litres (5.3 gallons) for last season's oil.
Muneer al-Wadi, Managing Editor of Local and Economic Affairs in the Syrian Tishreen Newspaper, said Chavez's endorsement of Syrian olive oil could help the market look up.
"There's a yearly surplus for export and it's increasing. It reached 50 thousand tonnes of olive oil. Syrians are looking for foreign markets to export this produce since Syrian olives are considered to be of the highest quality. Lately we saw how Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez gave a boost to Syrian olive oil and considered it as one of the best olive oils in the world,'' said al-Wadi.
Olive oil is produced in Syrian using both automated and traditional techniques. Ripe olives are put into fully-automated centrifugal mills, where they are crushed to a pulp and the olive oil is separated from the resulting juice. In the traditional press mills, two large stone wheels crush the olives, and the paste is then stacked between heavy rounds of material. The stack is then weighed down, forcing the oil to drip into containers placed underneath.
Growers and producers described this year's production levels as average, due to continued drought.
"The olive production this year was medium because of the lack of rain and the natural factors,'' said Ghassan Khoury, who owns an olive mill in Safita.
Over the past two years, Syria has battled its worst drought in decades as the region in general faces a dryer climate and water supplies depleted by damming and water well drilling.
Syrian farmers expect Venezuela's purchase to lift olive oil prices, although it is not clear if Chavez's government will buy more Syrian olive oil under a protocol signed this year. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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