India’s olive oil imports up by half

India imported 5,938 metric tons of olive oil in 2011, mostly from Italy and Spain, compared to 3,988 metric tons during the period in 2010, according to customs data. While that amounted to a 49% increase over the previous year, it is still an extremely small amount of olive oil for a country of one and a quarter billion people. Most of the growth was for olive pomace oil – the lowest edible grade of oil made from olives – which jumped by 131% during the period.