Learn about the Bianual yield of olive mast years and alternate years, and how it affects the production and availability of Albanian extra virgin olive oil.
The 2022 harvest was a bumper year for Albanian olives and therefore also of their olive oil. Such a bumper year or ‘on year’ is sometimes called a mast year.
In forestry, a mast year is the term for the phenomenon in which trees bear more fruit than average. A mast year occurs approximately every four years.
You are undoubtedly wondering where the term ‘mast’ in this name comes from. It is an ancient word, related to mæstan (‘to fatten’), with the meaning of ‘many acorns and beechnuts as pig feed’. This phenomenon also has consequences for the game population, since food has been abundant, the population of, say, wild boars may increase sharply the following year.
But producing so much fruit costs a tree an enormous amount of energy and the following year it pays the price with a so-called alternate year or ‘off year’, in which little or no fruit grows on the tree.
This process of mast years and alternate years also occurs in olive trees, but not in the same way as with other tree species. Olive trees have a two-year cycle that is called ‘on’ and ‘off’.
In Spain they call this phenomenon ‘véceria’, derived from the word ‘verera’, which means something like ‘alternately’. For example, the word is also used for communal herds of sheep, where villagers take turns keeping watch. In olive trees, ‘véceria’ describes the cycle of mast years and alternate years. A large olive harvest in one year (the mast year) is usually followed by low production the following year due to the depletion of the olive tree (the Alternate year). The olive tree needs to take a year to regain its strength.
In 2022, everything was perfect for the Albanian olive trees. Most olive trees had a mast year. Additionally, there were beautiful weather conditions with just enough precipitation at the right times. All this created perfect growing conditions for the olive trees. So those trees could produce many, many olives.
But the abundance of olives in 2022 required so much energy from those olive trees that far fewer olives will be available for Albanian extra virgin olive oil for the 2023 harvest year.
Domestic demand is expected to remain approximately the same. However, significantly less olive oil will become available for export, although this appears to be less of a problem than it initially appears. Last year, Albanian olive farmers were only able to sell their olive oil at rock bottom prices (or even below cost price) to mainly Italian traders. A new balance will be created in 2023 with higher prices that will benefit the Albanian economy.
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