Olive Oil Production Forecasts for a Macro Perspective during 2024–2027

Olive oil, which is part of the Mediterranean diet, is one of the most important foods for a healthy diet. The number of countries that produce these important foods has not increased significantly over the years. However, the number of exporting countries tripled in the same period. This study aimed to predict the countries that will lead olive oil production globally between 2024 and 2027 by using the production data from the period 1961–2023. The data were analyzed using the ARMA model in the statistical program SAS. According to the results for the 10-year period of 1961–1970, there were 25–26 olive-oil-producing countries in the world. Approximately 31.26% of olive oil production was in Italy, 28.32% in Spain, 13.14% in Greece, 7.80% in Turkey, and 5.74% in Portugal. According to the average production for the period 2024–2027, it is estimated that 34 and 35 countries will produce olive oil, with 29.93%, 9.08%, 9.06%, 9.00%, and 8.90% of the world’s production provided by Spain, Greece, Turkey, Morocco, and Italy, respectively. These five countries account for 65.96% of the world’s production level. The estimation results of this study found that there are many exporting countries other than the leading producer countries thus showing that the producer countries do not have a forceful marketing concept, and therefore intermediaries emerge. For this reason, producer countries such as Turkey, Tunisia, and Morocco, which are not very competent in marketing, will have more say in the market by using their resources more effectively and making more effective strategies with an improved production and marketing approach.