Almeria’s table olive harvest to come earlier

THIS year, table olives will be harvested earlier in the province due to the extreme heat.

Harvesting is due to begin this week and isn’t expected to last long, due to the early summer heat, as well as the lack of rain, but also the fact that many groves have been abandoned due to the low prices of recent years.

The first variety to be harvested will be the ‘gordal’ and others, including manzanilla and hojiblanca will begin on September 10. However, many of the olives are wrinkled due to the hot and dry weather and less than 400,000 tonnes of olives are expected to be harvested.

The smaller crop may help farmers to get more for their produce, as they are currently being paid five times less than the consumer price, despite the fact that some buyers have stock left over from recent years.