Andalusia seeks EU suspension of olive-oil inward processing regime
Andalusia has asked Spain’s Agriculture Ministry to seek an EU suspension of inward processing for olive oil. The regional government says growing duty-free inflows from Tunisia are distorting competition while Spanish prices fall and production costs rise.
Andalusia asks Madrid to take the case to Brussels
Andalusia’s acting regional minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, Ramón Fernández-Pacheco, has formally asked Spain’s Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to seek the suspension of the inward processing regime for olive oil. According to Europa Press, the request invokes Article 195 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 and calls on the European Commission to use the measure to prevent disruption of the Spanish and wider European market.
The special customs procedure allows non-EU goods to enter the European Union without import duties while they undergo processing. The resulting products may then be re-exported or released onto the EU market, at which point the applicable duties are assessed. Andalusia argues that the mechanism requires closer scrutiny when applied to extra virgin olive oil because the product undergoes only simple operations that do not alter its original characteristics or technical properties.
Questions over processing and Tunisian volumes
The regional government wants Madrid and Brussels to clarify whether extra virgin olive oil is eligible for inward processing and, if so, what specific transformation justifies the procedure. It has also requested the results of assessments covering Spanish inward-processing applications involving olive oil during the past five years. These details would help determine how much product entered under the regime and how it was handled after arrival.
Tunisia is at the centre of the concern. The European Union’s trade arrangements provide a duty-free quota of 57,700 tonnes of Tunisian olive oil, but Europa Press reported that inward processing permits entries equal to twice that volume. Data cited by the Andalusian agriculture department show that imports under the procedure were substantially higher in 2024 and 2025 than during 2021-2023, with the trend continuing in 2026.
The share of olive oil imported from Tunisia through inward processing reached 61.6% in 2025 and rose to 76.3% between January and April 2026. Extra virgin olive oil accounted for 75% of all olive-oil imports admitted under the procedure during the opening months of 2026. The Andalusian government says these figures warrant access to every available legal instrument, including suspension when disruption of the EU market is detected.
Lower prices intensify pressure on producers
The request comes as Spanish olive-oil prices remain low and declined further in August, particularly for extra virgin grades. At the same time, production costs have risen considerably in recent years, according to a study presented in July by the Spanish Association of Olive Municipalities. That combination reduces margins for growers and mills and heightens concern that duty-free supply is weakening producers’ bargaining position.
Fernández-Pacheco argues that local producers are not competing on equal terms and has asked the ministry to press the EU to activate the exceptional mechanism. The European Commission has previously suspended inward processing for raw cane sugar following an increase in imports, a precedent cited in support of the olive-oil request. No suspension has yet been announced for olive oil: the immediate issue is whether Madrid will take the Andalusian proposal to Brussels and whether the Commission considers the available market evidence sufficient for intervention.
