From January 19 to 21, Les Borges Blanques will hold a new edition of the Extra Virgin Quality Oil Fair, which this year will be attended by producers of Arbequina olive oil and other Catalan varieties.
The organizers assure that at the fair "there will be no shortage of oil" either to buy or to taste, despite the drop in production experienced by the sector.
The municipal government of Les Borges Blanques presented this Wednesday the poster for the next fair. The poster shows a series of olive oil presses on a green background with the written numbers of different olive varieties, such as arbequina, argudell and empeltre.
With this design, the organization wanted to represent the opening of the fair to Catalan producers of any variety, since until now only olive oil from the Arbequina variety was exhibited.
The deputy mayor and councilor for Economic Promotion and Business of Les Borges Blanques, Salvador Noguera, explained that the decision to open the fair to other varieties was made in a meeting with the exhibitors.
Another request from exhibitors that has also been incorporated into the next edition is the holding of a professional day on Friday, January 19 in the morning to put the sector and restaurant professionals in contact. There will be a tasting table, also aimed at professionals, so they can try different varieties of oil.
Last January the Oil Fair celebrated its 60th edition. The next edition will not be number 61, but rather the 27th.
The current government team justifies the change in number because it considers that the previous councils merged the Oil Fair with the Les Garrigues Fair, an event dedicated to agricultural machinery that had been held for more years. "We had always criticized the fact that the number of the fair was exploited and we had to put it in its place," said the deputy mayor.
The olive harvest campaign is once again marked by drought. According to the forecasts of the Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives of Catalonia (FCAC), this year about 20,000 tons of oil will be produced in Catalonia, a higher figure than last year but still 38% lower than the usual average production, about 32,000. tons.
In this context, Noguera has stated that, although production will be lower, at the fair there will be oil to buy and taste because it is a space where brands will make themselves known. "There will be no shortage of oil, I'm sure," he said.
