Turkish Producers Champion Native Varieties at World Competition
Amid a record crop and emerging challenges throughout the gathering season, olive oil makers, bottlers and exporters from Turkey combined to win 30 awards (25 Gold and five Silver Awards) from 58 entries at the 2025 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition .
“The news that we won the NYIOOC Gold Award for the second year was an immense moment for us, especially considering that it was also our second year as olive oil producers,”
The enthusiasm for the record olive oil crop of 475,000 metric tons has been toned down by the uncertainty that looms over the country’s olive oil trade due to low producer quotations, high production costs and irresolute the authorities policies such as the sudden imposition and lifting of export bans of bulk olive oil from Turkey. The impact of the drought that affected the Eastern Mediterranean last autumn was more noticeable in some of the country’s regions, such as Bursa and Balikesir, two traditional Turkish olive-growing areas.
Nevertheless, producers in most of Turkey’s olive oil-producing regions enjoyed abundant olive oil plantings this season. In the Milas district in southwest Turkey, local producer Goldere Gida has succeeded since its inception two years ago. First-time entrant Green Amour celebrated a Gold Award in New York for a medium-intensity extra virgin from the Trilye variety.
Green Amour, owned by the Özdoğan family, grows 23,000 olive trees on the mountain slopes around Salihli in the province of Manisa. “This is the first time we have participated, and we are so happy to receive the Gold Award,” chief executive Yurdakul Özdoğan explained. The NYIOOC accolade marked a successful 2024/25 harvest for Green Amour. With such abundant olive oil yields across the country, Turkish growers may struggle to compensate for their labor throughout the long gathering season. “The harvest season was very productive,” Özdoğan stated. “However, due to the excess product, rates were very low.
We closed the season with a loss, especially because of the high labor costs.” However, in the following 2025/26 crop year, some initial estimates suggest that Turkey will experience moderate olive oil production of around 250,000 tons. Özdoğan added that, after winning the NYIOOC award, Green Amour plans to export to the United States, anticipating that the tariff scheme implemented by the Trump administration will improve and become “very reasonable” for Turkey.
Apart from validating cultivation and production techniques, the NYIOOC accolades can in addition be the key for makers to enter the highly competitive North American marketplace. The firm has in addition won three awards in the 2022 and 2023 editions of the World Competition.
This year, the producer earned two Gold Awards for the Zagoda Ayvalik and Trilye monovarietals and a Silver Award for an Arbequina. Growers from Turkey’s northwestern regions were also recognized at the 2025 World Competition for their signature olive oils. A decade ago, the groves were ravaged by fire.
With proper nurturing, that said, the olive trees regenerated and started bearing fruit again. True Olive capped off a good gathering with two Gold Awards at the 2025 NYIOOC. (Photo; True Olive) “We felt deeply honored for the awards,” Babaoglu told reporters. “Not just for the recognition, but for the opportunity to carry on our family’s legacy.
