The Australian olive industry began almost two hundred years ago when early European settlers brought planting material to Australia. Until recently the traditional producing countries around the Mediterranean could produce olive oil and table olives far more competitively than Australia.



However, the industry is now changing from the very traditional manual labour techniques to mechanised systems of growing and harvesting, and Australia now finds itself becoming increasingly competitive, not just in import replacement, but in its ability to export large volumes of high quality olive oil.



Production



In 2002 Australia’s olive oil production was less than 1 million litres. This has steadily grown to over 2 million litres in 2004 to in excess of 15 million litres in 2009 or less than 1% of the average world production.



Consumption



Australia’s consumption of olive oil increased from 5,700 tonnes in 1983 to 17,200 tonnes in 1993 to an estimated 45,000 tonnes in 2008/9 (reference: International Olive Council). This represents an increase of 790% in just over two decades. Australia presently consumes more than three times its own annual production and is the largest consumer of olive oil per capita outside the Mediterranean.



Area Planted



Given the fragmented nature of the Australian industry it is hard to know just how many trees are in the ground. We estimate that there are about 35,000 hectares of olives planted in Australia (2009 estimate) and Victoria now has more than 25% of the planted area.



The most common variety planted across Australian groves is Barnea, which represents approximately 41% of the total area planted. This is followed by Frantoio with approximately 26%, Picual with approximately 15% and Manzanillo with approximately 6%. Barnea is favoured due to its vigorous growth, high and constant production under irrigation, its ability to be mechanically harvested and the relative ease of oil extraction.





2009 Harvest



An estimated 95,000 tonnes of olive fruit were harvested in 2009, producing approximately 15 million litres of oil. Based on current plantings, it is expected that production will continue to increase over the coming years, reaching close to 18 million litres by 2010. Production is then expected to plateau to just under 25 million litres by 2013.



Link : Our Groves