Italian producers earned a record number of awards at the 2021 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition from a record number of entries. NYIOOC data show that 115 producers from 18 of Italy’s 20 regions were awarded at this year’s edition of the world’s most prestigious olive oil quality competition.

The high-quality extra virgin olive oils were produced during one of the most challenging seasons of the past few years, as bad weather coupled with the Covid-19 pandemic, hampered harvests up and down the country. “Italian olive oil production in 2020 reached a total value of €3.3 billion, figures that do not take into account self-production and self-consumption, which are fairly relevant factors in our country,” Francesco Battistoni, the Italian undersecretary of agriculture, food and forestry, told Olive Oil Times.