TUNIS, June 2 (Xinhua) -- During the first six months of the current season, Tunisian olive oil exports surged by 49.2 percent, the National Observatory of Agriculture said on Monday.

Tunisia exported 3.6 billion dinars (1.2 billion U.S. dollars) worth of olive oil during this period, compared with 2.4 billion dinars (800 million U.S. dollars) during the same period of the previous season.

The agency attributed the sharp increase partly to a 63.9 percent rise in export volumes, which exceeded 295,400 tons, compared with 180,000 tons the previous season.

The customer breakdown shows that the European market holds the lion's share with 56.5 percent of the olive oil exports, compared with 23.2 percent for North America, 12.1 percent for Asia, 4.5 percent for Africa. ■