The Algerian olive oil sector maintains momentum despite poor harvest

Despite a disappointing harvest in Algeria, farmers and officials are optimistic that the sector in Africa’s third-largest olive oil-producing nation will continue on its upward trajectory. According to Olivier Rives, the project manager of the PASA program, which spent five years promoting the country’s olive oil sector, production in the 2023/24 crop year was roughly 40 percent below initial expectations. In its annual pre-harvest projection published in November, the International Olive Council estimated that Algeria would produce 93,000 tons, which would have been in line with the average of the previous five years. However, Rives told Olive Oil Times the county will more likely produce between 40,000 and 50,000 tons of olive oil in 2023/24, about 50 percent below the five-year average. Arezki Toudert, the president of the National Committee for the Olive Sector, told local media that the country’s hot summer and autumn prevented adequate oil accumulation in olives that did ...