Tunisia's olive oil exports more than doubled in the first five months this year to 113,200 tonnes from the same period last year, official data showed.

Olive oil represents half of the country's farm exports, which account for more than 10 per cent of total sales abroad.

The value of Tunisia's olive oil sales abroad soared to 443.2 million dinars ($346.25 million) for the January-May period from 312.4 million in the same period in 2006.

The country's average crop was 145,000 tonnes over the past decade. It projects to harvest 170,000 tonnes this year.

More than 500,000 families depend on the labour-intensive olive oil industry in the country of 10 million, where 56 million olive trees cover around 1.6 million hectares.