Olive Oil Exchange In The Mediterranean Area

In this paragraph the attention will be focused on the structure of the trade of the olive oil, taking into particular consideration the exchanges inside the Mediterranean countries. So far, we have considered the members of the E.U. individually. Now the E.U.- 25 will be considered as a single country. and only the trade without fluxes between E.U. countries will be taken into consideration. 48% of the E.U.–25 export is directed only to the U.S.A., 10% to Japan and 6-7% to each of Australia, South-Corea, Canada and Brazil. More than 90% of exports from Tunisia and Syria is directed to the E.U.; 6% of Tunisia's exports are addressed to the U.S.A. Turkish exports are addressed to various countries, to the U.S.A. and Canada,respectively. However, the trade of olive-oil is not limited to high-quality products. Pure olive oil covers 62% of the E.U.- 25 exports in value (58% in volume, the remaining bulk is composed of exports of refined olive oil). Morocco and Turkey export the same amount of virgin and refined olive oil as the E.U.-25. Tunisia and Syria, instead, export almost only virgin olive oil. How much do the Mediterranean countries depend on the E.U. market for their exports of olive oil? Do all of the Mediterranean countries depend on E.U. imports in the same way? Is this “dependance” influenced by the import choices of the E.U.? This dependance can be seen mostly for Tunisia and Syria (they recorded the highest index 3.56), Libia and Morocco. How much of this dependance is due to the trade policy of E.U.:preferential acces to the market allowed to some of the Mediterranean countries and “Traffico di Perfezionamento Attivo” (TpA: temporary import of goods meant for processing, transformation, repair)? According to the WTO rules, the highest rates the E.U. could require on the import of pure lamp-oil, virgin other then lamp oil and other olive oils are 122.60, 124.50 and 134.60 E/100 Kg, respectively.
However, several Mediterranean countries have no import duties(duty and quota free) and few countries are under preferential treatment (mentioned below). Within the so-called TPA, duty-free exports are allowed only in the case that these goods are re-exported (for example as a part of a transformed product, or as a part of mixture with other olive oils, or, at first, immediately after bottling).

The E.U. exports to Libia and Syria enjoy no preferencial treatment, that is to say they depend on the conditions of the MFN (Most Favourite Nation) while in 2005 Libia exported only 359 t, Syrian exports reached 30,983 t. All of the exports from Libia to the E.U. and more than 95% of exports from Syria are made according to the Tpa. In 2005 exports from Tunisia and Morocco to the E.U. Reached 98,567 and 16,904 t, respectively, significantly over the amounts of 57,167 and 3,710 t allowed duty-free by the E.U. in the same year; in fact the exports from Tunisia and Morocco, made according to the Tpa were 51,096 and 12,970. The index of exports from Turkey, Jordan, Egypt and Palestine is inferior to the one taken into consideration for Libia, Tunisia, Syria and Morocco; but more than one. In 2005 Turkey enjoyed a limited preferencial status and Palestine had the benefit of a duty-free rate of 2000 t, while no particular treatment regulated imports from other countries.