Olive presses start operation tomorrow

Olive presses across the Kingdom will start receiving the crop on Tuesday, the Jordan Olive Oil Producers Syndicate said, and fixed pressing rates to subsidize farmers. In a press conference, head of the syndicate Tayseer Najdawi warned of low price offers of adulterated oil on social media, adding that the real price of a 16-KG tin of extra virgin olive oil was set at JD90 to JD110. Deputy head of the syndicate Qassim Rousan called on the public to buy olive oil from licensed and reliable sources, calling for a stiff penalty against those who adulterate oil. Some 147 olive mills are operating in the Kingdom with a capacity that covers local market needs one and a half times, said the syndicate's spokesman Mahmoud Omari, adding that the pressing price this year remained at JD0.65 per kilogram of oil. The three-month olive season in Jordan starts tomorrow with mills opening first in the Jordan Valley, and then in central and mountainous regions, ending up in late December, based on the distribution of oliv e trees in the Kingdom, he added. Source: Jordan News Agency