CUSTOMS duties levied on Spain's olive oil exporters by former US president Donald Trump have been lifted by new leader Joe Biden – and business between the two countries has soared.
In the first six months of this year, olive oil exports from Spain shot up by 37.5%, to 57,402 tonnes, valued at €152 million.
Spanish olive-farmers largely had to close the door on their North American market when Trump imposed trade barriers that made it unprofitable to sell across the pond, but they have now recovered a large chunk of that market since Biden took up office.
Up to and including June 2020, Spanish trade accounted for 27.66% of olive oil sales in the United States, ahead of Tunisia, which had been the second-largest supplier in 2020 after the domestic market.
Now, Spain's oil is the second-most frequently sold in the USA after the home-produced varieties.
Spanish exporters were the number one supplier until Trump imposed customs fees, claiming the Mediterranean country supposed unfair competition to olive-growers in California.
According to the US customs office, a total of 483 tonnes of oil was imported in January, reaching 3,194 tonnes by June, breaking the 8,000-tonne barrier within that period.
Chairman of the Spanish Inter-Professional Olive Oil association, Pedro Barato, says the figures point to a 'return to normality' in the near future for Spain's largest non-European market.
“The reality is that Spain is the natural leader in the USA's olive oil market, and it's only a matter of time before we regain that position which we have put so much effort into achieving,” he says.
“Our decision to continue advertising our olive oil in the US and to carry on focusing on the North American consumer throughout these last two years has paid off.”
The USA is the third-largest consumer of olive oil on earth, Barato reveals, getting through around 400,000 tonnes of it a year.
