Another Maltese olive oil presser is expected to close its doors, raising questions over the island's pressing capacity ahead of the upcoming olive harvest.

WhosWho.mt can confirm that Tal-Kanċillier, an olive pressing facility located below Mdina, will no longer be operating, just a year after growers were seen waiting for hours to have their olives processed there.

The queues witnessed last season came as Malta was already dealing with the loss of another established olive oil presser.

Sam Cremona, a longstanding figure in Malta's olive oil sector, stopped operating his press last year. The impact became particularly visible as the harvesting season got under way, with some of the demand subsequently being absorbed by other facilities, including Tal-Kanċillier.

WhosWho.mt visited Tal-Kanċillier during last year's harvest, where growers could be seen arriving with crates and sacks of freshly picked olives and waiting for hours for their turn at the press. Watch below. 

The situation provided a glimpse of how the closure of even one facility could place additional pressure on the remaining olive presses during the relatively short harvesting window.

Two olive oil pressers who spoke to WhosWho.mt pointed towards the difficulties involved in keeping such facilities running, particularly given the highly seasonal nature of the business and the investment required in specialised machinery.

While presses can operate at full capacity during the busiest weeks of the harvest, demand is concentrated within a relatively short period. Maintenance, equipment and other costs associated with operating the facility remain regardless.

The loss of another facility could consequently increase pressure on those that remain, particularly when large numbers of growers seek to process their olives at roughly the same time.

A Gozo-based olive oil producer who spoke to BusinessNow.mt last year highlighted this point, explaining that producing quality olive oil depends on considerably more than simply harvesting a large quantity of olives.

“Factors like how is the soil, whether you have irrigation, and how one prunes the tree all affect the production of the tree,” he said.

Once harvested, the condition and handling of the olives also become important.

Among the factors he highlighted were “how long it took for it to be pressed, if the press was clean or not, if the olives were dirty” and how many kilometres the crop had travelled before reaching the press.

“Luckily for us we don’t have to travel a lot,” he said at the time.

The possible closure of another pressing facility therefore raises questions not only about the commercial viability of operating such businesses, but also about the infrastructure available to Malta's olive growers.

Last year's harvest provided relatively positive indications for local production. The Gozo producer described the season in his area around Ramla l-Ħamra as “really good”, particularly compared with the previous year, although he stressed that production remained below previous peak levels.

Attention is now turning towards the 2026 harvest and whether the remaining presses will be able to comfortably accommodate demand during the busiest weeks of the season.