How Spain's black olive exporters adapted to survive seven-year US tariff war

EU goods now face import tariffs of 15% - half of Trump's threatened rate, but much more than Europeans had hoped for - after striking a trade deal with Trump on Sunday (July 27).

Spain, the world's top table olive exporter, has seen its share of the U.S. black olive market plummet from 49% in 2017 to 19% in 2024 after Trump imposed tariffs of more than 30% at the request of Californian olive growers.

The measures only affected black olives and don't apply to green olives, olive oil or semi-processed olives.

Spanish farmers have taken steps to increase green olive sales and to diversify their markets since the tariffs were first imposed, but warn the additional increase will be hard to swallow.

The initial trade measures coincided with a severe drought that forced Spanish producers to cut around 400,000 work shifts for pickers out of a total of 2.5 million, according to industry estimates. Sales of Spanish black olives to the U.S. dropped by 70% in the first year.

"We were out of market and we had to do different things, we had to try and minimise the risk especially for two main reasons: for AgroSevilla workers and it's farmers who were going to directly suffer these tariffs,"said Gabriel Cabello, president of Andalusia's Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives in Seville province.

To mitigate losses, Spanish exporters shifted focus to Europe and the Middle East, regions with a tradition of consuming table olives. They also ventured into Asian markets, while switching to shipping more green olives to the U.S. because they are subject to lower tariffs.

Tariffs also spurred innovation, with some Spanish exporters selling black olives stuffed with salmon or cheese for the first time, which helped boost sales in Europe and Asia, Cabello said.

Still, the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture estimates it has lost 239.6 million euros ($278.51 million) in black olive sales since the tariffs were introduced, nearly a third of the 707 million-euro total export value from the last harvest.

Among the 25 Spanish exporters active before the tariffs, only four major players remain, according to Asemesa, Spain’s Association of Table Olive Exporters.

Agro Sevilla, one of the survivors, expanded green olive exports and managed to reduce black olive tariffs to 10% from 31% by successfully demonstrating that they received fewer European subsidies than the U.S. had estimated. It has gradually recovered sales in the U.S. since 2023.

"The situation does not look good, it's not good for the Spanish olives, European olives, or any other agri-food products that could be affected during this process. So this is leading us to think in other ways to satisfy the demand from United States," Agro Sevilla CEO Julio Roda told Reuters.

Spain exported 6,300 tonnes of semi-processed olives in 2024 alongside 36,000 tonnes of green olives and 9,800 tonnes of black olives as the U.S. measures failed to bolster domestic growers.

Imports of table olives surged by 40% in the first eight months of 2024 compared to the same period in 2017, trade data shows, with Egypt, Portugal, and Turkey increasing exports the most.

Spanish exports of green olives to the U.S. grew by 18% during the same period, partially offsetting a decline in black olive exports.

However, Spanish producers remain concerned about the new tariffs.