Olive Oil News

Calendars get full so easily these days, so make sure you’ve got these important olive industry dates locked in on your calendar:
• 18 September – Tasting Extra Virgin Olive Oils for Aspiring Judges
• 29 September – 2012 Olives New Zealand Awards Dinner
• 3 November – 2012 NZ Olive Festival
• 16 March 2012 – Olives New Zealand Conference
If you’ve got an industry event you’d like to promote, send the details to [email protected] and we’ll include them in the next edition of Friday Olive Extracts. It’s free and, with each fortnightly edition going out to more than 3000 subscribers, is a great way to spread the word.

Hills consumers are being urged to vote with their hip pockets and discourage the influx of cheap olive oil imports by only buying local and certified extra virgin olive oil. Industry representatives say many imports are labelled incorrectly as extra virgin oil when they can be any sort of refined, bleached and deodorised oil made from olives that may have fallen from trees and been on the ground for months. Bald Hills Olive Grove owners Robert Rees and Anama Morriss believe it would send the strongest message if consumers stopped purchasing imported brands.

Katherine Rich, CEO, NZ Food & Grocery Council, examines a recent TV report. The olive oil producing countries of the Mediterranean guard their reputations very jealously; probably about as jealously as New Zealand guards its dairying reputation. To an olive oil producer in Spain, Italy, or Greece, the subject of extra virgin olive oil and how it is produced is as important as the quality of milk powder or cheese is to Fonterra.

A new grade of olive oil is among changes that could spring from an action plan for Europe’s ailing olive oil sector. Also being discussed are measures to promote quality via better fraud detection and deterrence, such as stricter and more frequent testing; financial incentives to reduce fragmentation among producers, thereby increasing their bargaining power with large retail chains; and increasing the leadership of the International Olive Council (IOC) by admitting countries where olive oil is not produced but is consumed.

Plunging olive oil prices are leaving Middle East farmers struggling, with margins squeezed by the economic woes of heavily indebted Mediterranean countries. Olive oil prices fell to US$2,921.46 per tonne last month, compared with highs of $5,853.98 per tonne in 2006, according to data from the IMF. Countries in the Levant, where olives were first cultivated for use in oils, account for more than a quarter of global production and a significant quantity of exports, according to the International Olive Oil Council.

The Financial Times has devoted space to the turbulent olive oil market of the ‘Big Three’ – Spain, Italy and Greece. Pointing out that the price of olive oil has dropped to a 10-year low since demand has sunk due to the economic crisis, the article also correlates the fading of olive oil consumption with competition from cheaper vegetable oils, such as sunflower oil. In Spain, sunflower oil costs only €1.25L, while olive oil is sold at €1.99 and extra virgin at €3.25. Domestic consumption of olive oil in Spain will fall back to the levels of 2002 and in Italy and Greece to 1995 levels, the article states, citing the International Olive Oil Council.

An ancient Sicilian olive tree worth €20,000 was delivered to Sherries Garden Centre in Burmarrad this morning, having been delivered from Catania. This particular olive is three trees which, over the years, became one. It is 1,000 years old and has been bought to Malta for a private individual. In the past, olive trees were planted in threes rather than in singles and as decades passed they became works of art following the sun, twisting with winds and growing majestically.

Imported Italian olive oil brand Carapelli is looking to harness social media sharing in its first new (US) brand campaign in five years. Dubbed “Made with Care, Made to Share,” the campaign’s hub is a relaunched site. The site focuses on offering recipes and provides links to Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest (as well as promoting the hashtag #justsharing) to encourage users to share the recipes and discuss the brand, Italian cooking and entertaining through their own pages/accounts.