• Tunisia reports food export revenues of 7.75 billion dinars ($2.66 billion) in 2025, down 8.5% year-on-year.
• Olive oil export value falls 16.3% to 4 billion dinars, despite a 60% surge in volumes to 318,000 tonnes.
• Export prices for olive oil drop 47.7%, contrasting with price increases for other key food exports.

Tunisia relies on olive oil as its main agricultural export. However, adverse market conditions reduced the sector’s contribution to food export revenues in 2025. Food and agricultural export revenues reached 7.75 billion dinars ($2.66 billion) in 2025, according to the latest annual report from the National Agricultural Observatory. This figure represents a decline of 8.5% compared with the previous year.

The downturn largely reflects weak performance in the olive oil sector. Export revenues from olive oil fell 16.3% to 4 billion dinars ($1.39 billion) in 2025. However, export volumes increased 60% to reach 318,000 tonnes.

According to the National Agricultural Observatory, olive oil is the only product among the top five food exports that recorded a decline in international prices. “Export prices decreased by 47.7% for olive oil, while they increased by 8.2% for fishery products, 1.4% for dates, 4.1% for tomatoes and 19.3% for citrus fruits compared with the same period of the previous year,” the report states.

Although the National Agricultural Observatory does not specify the reasons behind the price drop, global market conditions provide context. Global olive oil production rebounded in 2025 after two consecutive years of decline. As a result, abundant supply likely weighed on international prices.

Food products exported in 2025

Despite the decline in revenues, olive oil remains Tunisia’s leading food export in 2025 and accounts for more than half of total food export earnings.

More broadly, the share of agricultural exports in total national exports declined to 12.2% in 2025, down from 13.7% in 2024, according to the National Agricultural Observatory.

This article was initially published in French by Stéphanas Assocle

Adapted in English by Ange J.A de Berry Quenum