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Spain's imports of Tunisian olive oil rose sharply during the first seven months of 2026, surpassing 70,000 tons, in a development that underscores the growing presence of Tunisian oil in the Spanish market and raises questions about the routing of part of these volumes within the European market.
According to the Spanish newspaper El Debate, in a report published on Tuesday, 29 September 2026, citing data from the Ministry of Economy and Trade and Spain's official foreign trade statistics agency, Spain imported 70,099 tons of olive oil from Tunisia between January and July 2026. This figure represents an almost twofold increase compared with the same period of 2025, when Spanish imports of Tunisian oil stood at 37,944 tons, a year-on-year increase of more than 32,000 tons, at a time when the Spanish market has been experiencing a decline in domestic production.
The data show that Tunisia and Morocco together lifted their olive oil exports to Spain by 141.91 percent in a single year, with imports from both countries rising from 38,341 tons in the January–July 2025 period to more than 92,751 tons in the same period of 2026. As a result, Tunisia has become the leading non-EU supplier of olive oil to the Spanish market.
However, the Spanish report flagged a notable discrepancy between Tunisian and Spanish figures. According to data from Tunisia's National Agricultural Observatory (ONAGRI), Tunisian olive oil exports to Spain between November 2025 and June 2026 reached approximately 120,000 tons, while Spain's foreign trade database records 79,654 tons for the same reference period, a gap of around 40,346 tons.
The Spanish report does not attribute this gap solely to statistical differences, but also links it to the way part of Tunisian oil enters the European market, specifically through the inward processing regime. This system allows non-EU products to enter EU territory for processing or transformation before being re-exported under specific customs conditions, which means some of these volumes are not counted as traditional dutiable imports.
This point carries particular significance for Tunisia, given that the EU–Tunisia trade agreement provides for an annual duty-free quota of 56,700 tons of Tunisian olive oil. Spanish trade data show that volumes arriving from Tunisia in the first seven months of 2026 already exceeded this annual quota, though this does not necessarily mean the agreed trade framework has been breached, given the existence of other customs mechanisms, including inward processing.
El Debate had published another report a few days earlier on the routing of Tunisian olive oil within the European market, citing a report by a Tunisian company specialized in olive oil production and export that 86.3 percent of Tunisia's olive oil exports in the 2025–2026 season were shipped in bulk. The report noted that Spain and Italy together account for more than half of Tunisian olive oil exports, with the bulk of volumes arriving unpackaged, allowing them to undergo blending and bottling operations within Europe before being placed on the market in line with applicable trade and customs rules.
In parallel, Spain's total olive oil imports in the first seven months of 2026 climbed to 155,502 tons, up from 117,465 tons in the same period of 2025, an increase of 32.38 percent. On the broader Tunisian export front, ONAGRI had reported that olive oil exports in the first ten months of the 2025–2026 season rose by 50.8 percent in volume to 381,200 tons, and by 41.2 percent in value to 4.78 billion Tunisian dinars.
The Spanish figures confirm the growing importance of the Spanish market for Tunisian olive oil, not only as a direct export destination but also as part of the broader route Tunisian oil takes within the European market. The discrepancy between Tunisian and Spanish data on export volumes across different reference periods remains a point that warrants further clarification, particularly as the use of customs mechanisms allowing Tunisian oil to enter Europe under processing and re-export arrangements continues to expand.
Source: Tunisie Telegraph