Increasing consumption of olive oil, low global supplies and reigning high prices may spark growth in South Africa’s olive oil industry. This is according to Gilberto Biacuana, research fellow at Land Bank in an April 22, 2024 report on Press Reader.

Biacuna notes that the local industry has been growing by 20% per year, the fastest for any agricultural sub-sector in South Africa.

Stimulating this growth is uptick expansion in domestic olive production area at a yearly rate of 70%, between 2012 and 2020.  In those eight years, the olive grove acreage in South Africa grew to 2,400 hectares.

Olive production uptake by several provinces outside Western Cape have also come into the picture. Emerging hubs like Northern Cape, Orange Free State and Limpopo are contributing 1% of South Africa’s olive oil, apiece. Eastern Cape on the other hand produces 2% of the national output.

These four provinces lag behind because they lack the temperate climate of Western Cape, which accounts for 95% of production.

A Net Importer of EVOO

Despite this impressive growth projectile, South Africa’s trade imbalance in olive oil is telling on low domestic output.

The country exports up to 2 million litres of Extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) but imports at most 6 million liters, yearly.

Traditional import sources including Spain, Italy and Greece are experiencing shortfall in olive oil production due to climatic factors.  This could mean a rare opportunity to turn these traditional sources into export destinations. 

Currently, South Africa mostly exports its olive oil to neighboring countries including Namibia and Mozambique. 

South Africa’s Olive Oil Best in the World?

South Africa’s EVOO is acclaimed as high quality because of organic production under the Mediterranean-like clime of Western Cape.

In May 2023, a local olive farm, De Rustica Olive Estate, emerged with the best olive oil in a world competition.

The estate attributed this triumph to the conducive climate in the Cape region, which echoes that of Italy and southern Spain.

Besides, the farm claimed to handpick the fruits instead of relying on machine harvest, as a preservative measure. 

In short, South Africa’s olive oil industry, as Biacuna foresees, can easily emerge a major player in the global olive sector.