The olive pomace sector is an essential part of the olive oil and olive oil industry’s value chain, providing solutions to an environmental problem and generating a commercial outlet for olive pomace oil, especially the stone and the pomace. However, the current situation of low prices in the sector, coupled with increasing production, has placed the sector in a very delicate situation.
A recent study by Juan Vilar Consultores and ANEO, the association that represents Spanish olive pomace producers—including four from Extremadura—warned of the situation. “The level of costs currently incurred by these producers, avoiding any payment for the removal and transportation of olive pomace, including production costs and overhead costs, far exceeds the income obtained.” Almost €5 would be lost for each ton of olive pomace processed.
In the new olive campaign that has just begun, the forecast is to process around 9 million tons of olive pomace. The company is currently working on further development of the project, including carbon footprint offsetting and job creation.
Are there alternatives to achieve greater added value for the product? Three young entrepreneurs—Iñigo Monreal, María Jara, and Rubén Escudero—have created the innovative company Smallops to meet a need in the olive oil industry and partially change their business model. They aim to do so from Extremadura, with their headquarters located in Don Benito since March 2020. “It was somewhat by chance because none of the three partners have any ties to Extremadura. We contacted the company Metanogenia, which is based in Badajoz and has experience in the biogas field, and we decided to establish our headquarters here.”
