STRONG FORECASTS FOR OLIVE HARVEST IN SPAIN, GREECE

MADRID: The olive harvest in Spain, the world's largest olive oil producer, is expected to grow by 48 per cent this season after last year's slump and reach 1.26 million tonnes. The forecast by the Ministry of Agriculture gives cause for cautious optimism after extreme weather produced the poorest results in years.

Greece is also expecting an increase after the last harvest season from 150,000 to 230,000 tonnes of oil.

While Spain and Greece are confident in the sector's recovery, the crisis continues in Italy, where olive oil production is likely to be even lower than last year.

According to initial estimates by the Italian agricultural institute ISMEA, this year's harvest could only yield around 220,000 tonnes of oil - down 32 per cent on last year's 330,000 tonnes. The positive signals from Spain and Greece appear to have already reached supermarkets in Europe. In Germany, for example, discounter ALDI reduced its own-brand olive oil from $9.5 and its organic olive oil from €?9.99 to €6.95 in late October. As a result, all major retailers in Germany followed suit with price reductions. - dpa