Olive Oil

Olive Oil Industry

A member of Oleacea family and regarded as a sacred fruit by all religions and dating back to B.C. 12,000s according to the archeological remains, homeland of olive is Upper Mesopotamia area that covers southeastern part of Anatolia, Syria, Palestine and the area which covers Iran on the south of Caucasus. Olive has spread to Egypt and other Northern Africa counties over Cyprus in Mediterranean basin, and also to Crete and Greece over Anatolia and then to Italy, France and Spain and then reached to Latin America by Spanish sailors.

Regarded as the plant of 20th Century today, this special fruit has spread to South Africa, China, Japan, Australia, Latin America and Pakistan due to its healthy constituents and is getting more important every other day. Although olive is currently being cultivated on 5 continents in nearly 58 countries on an area of 160,000 Ha, number of countries which consume olive and olive oil has reached to nearly 180 today.

Although current vegetable oil production quantity throughout the world is 187 million tons, olive oil constitutes only 3.1 million tons of this figure. Nearly 70-75% of this produced olive oil is being consumed by the manufacturing countries.

The most significant basic property of olive oil that distinguishes it from other vegetable oils is being a valuable oil which is considered as a fruit oil obtained by pressing the fruit without requiring refining. On the other hand, positive effects of the minor constituents of the olive oil on the human health has made olive oil one of the most important foodstuffs in the world.

Increase in the interest in living a long life in addition to the increased interest in healthy and well balanced diet habits in the recent years have led the people to consume olive and olive oil more. Being one of the most important products from the economic and social perspective for the manufacturing countries, olive and olive oil are also a part of the culture which symbolizes the Mediterranean.