Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterSoller16/01/2016 00:00
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The production of green table olives is on the increase. This year the Soller Sant Bartomeu Cooperative has broken records and doubled the 2015 production. In total, 43 tons of green olive have been gathered, 23 more than last year, by producers able to sell them as DO (designation of origin). The president of the DO Oliva de Mallorca, Miquel Gual, says that the price has been kept at the same level as last year, which was already high, and that this has helped bring in more people to pick the olives. Some of the olives picked last year, Gual also notes, were not of sufficient quality to carry the DO mark.

Prices rose from 1.80 euros a kilo in 2014. They are now 2.30 euros, and this higher price has encouraged more producers. "The olive has a good price. As importantly, the consumer has valued the quality of a product that has been well marketed."

The DO declaration in 2013 has enabled the quality of the specific olive product in Majorca to be recognised as opposed to olives sold as Majorcan olives from Aragon and Morocco. There are now three companies - the Sant Bartomeu Coperative, Olives Rosselló and Son Moragues - which market the DO olive product.

Gual adds that the season has been very good in terms of production and quality, but the dryness of the last few weeks has reduced the quantity. "The olive needs water. We have had two good consecutive harvests, but next year might not be the same." Nevertheless, he is confident that within five years production will have reached 100 tons.