Malaga expects poor table olive crop

AROUND 33 million kilos of table olives are expected to be collected in Malaga Province in September, 40 per cent less than usual.
According to the Andalucian Coordinator for Farmers’ Organisations, this is due to the lack of rain and the high temperatures of the past months.
Table olives in Malaga are mainly produced in the Antequera area.
The rest of Spain is in a similar situation, and just 400,000 tonnes are expected to be collected throughout the country. In Sevilla, production is expected to fall by 80 per cent, not only because of the poor weather conditions, but because many olive groves have been abandoned as farmers could no longer afford to maintain them.
Another problem olive producers face is the Xylella fastidiosa bacteria, which arrived in Europe in 2013 and causes the trees to die. It affected 15,000 hectares in Italy.