Looking to sell olive oil in Japan? Use small bottles

Sell your oil in small bottles and stress the health benefits. Those are among tips from Spain’s Institute of Foreign Trade (ICEX) for companies seeking a slice of the expanding olive oil market in Japan, the world’s third biggest economy. In a new report, it says that in the last decade, Japan’s olive oil imports grew 41%, peaking in 2010 with more than 41,000 tons and making the country number 14 in the world ranking of olive oil importers. In 2011, its virgin olive oil imports had a value of 11.3 billion yen ($144 million). Yet olive oil is so far just 2% of Japan’s vegetable oil sales.