TUNIS, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- Tunisia expects a growth of 20 to 30 percent in olive oil production for the season of 2017-2018, Tunisia National Office of Olive Oil said Monday.
"The new season will begin in November and will bring a marked improvement. The harvest could exceed the average of the last five years," said Chokri Bayoudh, general director of national olive oil office, at a press briefing.
The forecasts are based on Tunisian olive oil exports of about 200,000 tons during the 2017-2018 season, Bayoudh said, stressing the need to conquer new promising markets of Canada, the United States, China, Russia and India, and break deeper into the two traditional European markets Spain and Italy.
During the last 10 years, olive oil has been one of the main drivers for the expansion of Tunisia's foreign exchange reserves.
According to the Tunisian Minister of Agriculture, the average annual oil exports in the last decade hit about 145,000 tons, or 80 percent of the national production of the North African country, generating revenues of 850 million dinars (348 million U.S. dollars).
