Flavor of Spain

Spain is the FIRST (…yes you read well) olive oil country in the world both in cultivated surface, as well as production of olive oil. Spain has 5.559.750 acres of olive groves, which produce an annual average of 650.000 Tm of olive oil (aprox. 710,000,000 liters).

The olive grove surface extends across almost one third of Spain’s land. Almost all of the provinces bordering the Mediterranean have olive groves. Andalusia is the largest producing region with 50% of the cultivated land as well as almost 80% of the National production.

In Spain there is a long and diverse list of planted olive varieties. The following are the most important ones in terms of production:
Picual, Cornicabra, Hojiblanca and Arbequina.

Italy is the second country in olive oil production worldwide. There are currently 2.841.650 acres of olive groves being cultivated in Italy, which produce an average of 450.000 tons of olive oil every year (approximately 480.000.000 liters).

Greece is the third largest producer of olive oil in the world. Greece has 1.853.250 acres of olive grooves in cultivation, with an average annual production of 350.000 tons of olive oil (approximately 3.745.000 liters of olive oil).

Source: oliveoil.com