Malta is experiencing a bumper year for olives thanks to a mixed bag of weather.

A cold winter and a hot summer have meant growers are having one of the best harvests for some time. But it also means they have to work from 3am to 5pm to process the oil – and they are still only halfway through the season.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture’s website, there are nine approved olive oil processors in Malta and Gozo.

Among them is Golden Extracts Ltd in Rabat. Run by Anthony Busuttil and his family, he says this year’s bounteous crop has meant it has been all hands on deck since September.

“We’ve been under a lot of pressure,” he told Times of Malta. “We have 600 trees at our grove, but we also process olives from other growers around Malta.

Once the olive is picked it has to be crushed and processed within 48 hours

“Once the olive is picked it has to be crushed and processed within 48 hours, otherwise it shrivels up and loses its quality, so we have to be careful. That means when people come with their crop, we have to work fast to make sure our customers are satisfied.”

Anthony Busuttil, Antonio Bonavia and Frank Borg Jr., owners of Golden Extracts Ltd.

Golden Extracts Ltd was set up in 2002, planting hundreds of trees which have since matured. Anthony and his team now sell the brand within Malta to both locals and tourists.

For competitive reasons, he did not want to give exact figures about how much oil he has actually processed this year, but he did say it was “more than double,” when compared to the same period last year.

“2018 was a bad year, but we don’t know why. Obviously, it’s to connected with the weather conditions or the climate, but also it can be the tree itself. There is no hard and fast rule about how to grow them successfully. Olive trees tend to produce every alternative year, so that’s also a factor.

“Thankfully this year’s conditions were perfect. Because the temperature dropped to below 10 degrees for a stretch in winter, we had fewer pests. The same happens when the summer is very hot. There was also the right amount of rainfall at the right time. Olive trees don’t need much rain, but they do need some,” Mr Busuttil said.