Gemlik growers take to the square: oil olives were 50 lira last year, 25-30 lira is being talked about now

Olive growers and cooperatives in Gemlik, in Bursa province, led by the Gemlik City Council, used a press statement to call on Marmarabirlik to announce its purchase prices and payment terms as soon as possible. The statement reached the news on 13-14 November 2026; one report dates it 13 November and another places the protest on 14 November. A banner read "Diesel is expensive, fertiliser is expensive, olives are free", a symbolic coffin marked "The olive grower is dead" was set out, and sweet fritters (lokma) were handed to passers-by.

What was said

Council chair Sedat Akkuş, speaking for the cooperatives, said a kilogram of oil olives was about 50 lira last year and that 25-30 lira is being talked about today. "Did diesel get cheaper, did fertiliser get cheaper, did the labourer's daily wage fall?" he asked. He also rejected the big crop as an excuse: "A big harvest is not a disaster, it is abundance. A farmer who produces more must not be punished."

According to Akkuş, Marmarabirlik's taking delivery without stating a price leaves growers in uncertainty; farmers have debts, wages and a household to support and cannot hold the crop for long. The statement also called for inspections against olives grown elsewhere being sold as Gemlik olives.

Prices on the ground

The reports also include prices that the Gemlik Körfez newspaper noted from merchants' purchases in Umurbey before the protest:

The "at least 50 lira" demand raised at the protest concerns oil olives; for table olives the price depends largely on fruit size. The gap between 150 and 35 lira for large and small fruit is the mechanism we described in the economics of caliber showing up in the field.

The figures next to the cost

According to the cost table the Gemlik Chamber of Agriculture published for the 2026 harvest, producing a kilogram of oil olives costs 58.14 lira; 41.63 of that is direct expense and the remaining 16.51 is financing, depreciation and overhead (full breakdown here). On that basis, by our calculation:

• A purchase at 25-30 lira is about 43-52 per cent of the chamber's total cost.
• Against direct expense alone (41.63 lira) the shortfall is about 11.6-16.6 lira per kilogram.
• Going from the 50 lira Akkuş cited to 25-30 lira is a fall of 40-50 per cent.
• The demanded "at least 50 lira" is below the chamber's total cost and above its direct expense.

These compare figures from two separate sources: remarks at a press statement and a chamber of agriculture's estimate. Neither is a final purchase price.

Where Marmarabirlik stands

The union opened its 2026/27 purchase campaign on 4 November: members declared 105,000 tonnes, the purchase target is 64,000 tonnes and small fruit will be bought down to size 41. That announcement carried no purchase price, and according to the reports none has been announced yet. Our latest record is from 2025/26: oil olives 53 lira/kg, the table-olive floor (size 41) 55 and the ceiling (size 18) 160 lira. For the region's season data see our Bursa crop article.

What is not known

The reports contain no reply from Marmarabirlik to the call, and it is unclear when a price will be announced. The full list of demands set out in the statement cannot be read from the published texts either. The Umurbey prices are the observation of a single local newspaper and cannot be said to represent all purchases in the district.