The future is extra virgin. But not everything flies as smooth as oil; There is in the middle of Europe that on the one hand complicates the life of those who cultivate and on the other sacrificing agriculture in commercial agreements – Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland in these days are under check of the tractors who protest for Mercosur, Coldiretti -Filiera Italia have already expressed very strong opposition to the agreement that Ursula von der Leyen It carries out with India – not applying the reciprocity clauses: that is, the same rules of cultivation, on phytosanitary, same quality standards and health of imported products. And the extra virgin is no exception. Indeed on olive oil there is a dumping of Tunisia and Türkiye (together they produce 800,000 tons). The penetration of Tunisian oil is favored by an EU agreement that has zeroed the duties starting from 2019 on 56,700 tons of product. Italy is the first imported country: 34.2% of the export of North African production come from us below 5 euros per liter. Two weeks ago Coldiretti “symbolically” left a cistern ship in the port of Civitavecchia. The suspicion is that the Tunisian oil – Spain buys 52,000 tons – is converted to the community and alter the market.
Despite this and a cut of production due to parasitosis – the Xylella case in Puglia which is the first productive region – to drought, a progressive to the abandonment of historical olive groves also for the Apennine depopulation, the Italian extra virgin has never been so healthy. To the point of deserving an autonomous international fair. In Verona – he closes today – for the first time the Sol detached himself from Vinitaly and was entirely dedicated to the sacred plant of the Mediterranean. And of Italy given that in the coat of arms of the Republic the star is surrounded by an olive branch and one of oak.
The Minister of Agriculture Francesco Lollobrigida Opening Sol2expo noticed: «The EU Commissioner also spoke about it Christophe Hansenreiterating how while the olive sector lives complex moments throughout Europe, in Italy the trend is opposite. Italian oil is constantly growing; If in all of Europe there is a decrease, Italy is the only one that is an exception with production and value increases. The government has allocated more than 165 million for promotion, oil mills and contrast to XYLELLA ». Lollobrigida He also huddled the objection on the price of the extra virgin: “There is a lot of quality, the best in the world for which there are no high or low prices, but there are only right prices capable of remunerating the fatigue of the farmers”, which in the case of the olive tree are really “custodians” also reassuring that the duties threatened by Donald Trump “They won’t hit the oil: there is zero risk.”
Moreover, the numbers are very encouraging. Provides them Matteo ZoppasPresident of the Ice Agency: “In recent years, the oil has known an important growth trend: 3 billion exports in 2024, +45% on 2023 (which already closed at +15% on 2022) and +57% on 2019, thus making a significant contribution to the sector. As regards the overall export of the agri -food sector, in the transition from 64.5 billion in 2023 to 69 billion in 2024 – 5 billion difference – 1.5 billion is in fact due to the increase in oil “. Other figures that offer a positive picture are those of Nomisma who has made a very detailed monitoring of the market in Italy, where “Consumers consider higher extra virgin olive oil compared to other types of quality oils (89%), quality-price ratio (85%), taste (85%) and health benefits (79%) “. From this investigation it is obtained that the extra virgin olive oil is also rewarded in the champion, which the consumer wants more information to get to know and choose the oil better and that also the tourism tied to oil mills and olive groves is developing. It seems to retrace the road that has made the wine and not surprisingly the Consortium of the Chianti Classico – this year celebrated the 100 years of life – at Sol brought its extra virgin who turns half a century of denomination. It is the only case of equal denomination for wine and oil also because the olive tree is the first constituent of the Chianti landscape, totally Benedictine given that the monks of the saint of Norcia in front of each monastery planted the vineyard, to symbolize the sacred spirit, and olive as an emblem of divine light. Which multiplies. Five thousand new hectares of olive groves by 2026 to relaunch the production of Italian extra virgin David GranieriPresident of UnaProl and National Vice -President of Coldiretti, thus contrasting the loss of 32% of production which makes 3 bottles out of 4 consumed in Italy. Hence the proposal of a single electronic register at European level to ensure the traceability of virgin olive oils avoiding fakes. And we return to Europe; Stefano Cavedagna (Fdi-Ecr) urges: “Brussels defends the chain of the Italian and European agri-food sector”.
