September sales picked up in Spain, where producer groups and millers are arguing over compulsory storage. In northern Puglia, protests over fuel costs and low oil prices have interrupted milling.
What happened this week
Spain closes with a stronger month of sales
Spain's total market outflows are provisionally estimated at 137,600 tonnes for September, around 29,200 more than in August. That would bring the 2025/26 campaign total close to 1.49 million tonnes. The figure, built on AICA's data and reported by Óleo Revista, includes 15,000 tonnes of imports estimated by Cooperativas Agro-alimentarias that are still awaiting confirmation from Customs.[1]
Around 357,000 tonnes remained in stock at the season's close. Packers, refiners and other commercial operators held 178,292 tonnes, slightly more than the 175,745 tonnes in the hands of mills.[2]
Compulsory storage divides the Spanish sector
COAG Jaén is pressing for the sector's marketing rule, which would oblige mills to store part of their oil, to be put into effect. On Wednesday, it estimated that around 188,700 tonnes could be withheld under the proposed scheme, roughly 12% of the expected Spanish crop.[3] INFAOLIVA and AFE, which represent milling businesses, warned in statements reported the same day that mills would still have to pay growers, under the Food Chain Law, for oil they could not sell while the restriction remained in force. They would also face the cost of storing it. The associations are calling for the effects on mills to be assessed before intervention and question how effectively a restriction confined to Spain could work in an international market, where imports, exports and other producing countries also shape supply.[4]
Gargano mills suspend olive intake and crushing
Mills in northern Gargano announced on Wednesday that they would stop receiving olives and suspend crushing after a meeting of producers, millers and cooperatives. Guido Cusmai of Orgoglio Olivicolo told ANSA that mills in Carpino, Ischitella, Peschici and Cagnano Varano were among those closing. The stoppage accompanies protests at the Poggio Imperiale-Lesina junction of the A14 motorway, where growers are demanding action on fuel costs and oil prices they say fail to cover production and milling. Local reports on Thursday continued to describe the closures as open-ended.[5]
Tuscany expects a strong harvest
In Tuscany, the Toscano IGP consortium expects oil production 35–40% above the average of the past ten years. At Thursday's presentation, president Fabrizio Filippi reported healthy fruit and extraction yields averaging around 12%. He said the dry summer had helped limit olive-fly damage and described market prices as stable.[6]
Tunisia's olive oil export receipts rise 37%
Olive oil exports earned Tunisia TND4.006 billion in the first nine months of 2026, up 37.4% from TND2.915 billion a year earlier. Figures published on Monday by the National Institute of Statistics show that olive oil helped lift the country's agri-food export revenues by 20.3%. The release records sales value in Tunisian dinars and does not establish how much of the increase came from changes in tonnage or prices.[7]
Sources
- Óleo Revista: September outflows and the closing campaign balance, 15 October 2026. AICA's data, with imports estimated by Cooperativas Agro-alimentarias.
- ASAJA: AICA/SIMO closing stocks and their distribution, 15 October 2026. Provisional data at 30 September.
- COAG Jaén: Closing balance and the organisation's estimate of potential withdrawal, 14 October 2026.
- Óleo Revista: INFAOLIVA and AFE on the proposed marketing order, 14 October 2026.
- ANSA, reproduced by l'Immediato: Northern Gargano mills announce a suspension, 14 October 2026; l'Immediato: Follow-up reporting, 15 October 2026.
- ANSA: Toscano IGP consortium harvest assessment, 15 October 2026. The 35–40% comparison is with the ten-year average.
- Tunisia INS: Foreign trade at current prices, September 2026, published 12 October 2026. Calendar-year January–September export values.