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The price for olive oil has dropped to its lowest level in a decade and farmers in the Middle East are bearing the brunt as Spain and Italy dump their government-subsidised stocks at below cost. “The international market prices are going below sustainable levels,” Nasser Abu Farha, the director of Canaan Fair Trade that works with some 1,500 Palestinian farmers, told The Media Line.
Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year has given market research specialist Mintel the excuse to look at how consumers’ eating habits have changed since its first-ever report in 1972 – revealing how much more sophisticated the nation’s tastes have become. Many of what are now store cupboard essentials, for instance, were considered exotic 40 years ago. Then, just 16% of Brits had bought olive oil in the previous three months, while today over half are regular purchasers. Similarly, garlic and tomato puree were rarely seen in the British shopping basket, but now they are used by almost half of us. Sales of curry powder, on the other hand, are on the wane.
A parliamentary push is on for greater protection of the local olive oil industry, calling for more transparent labelling to stop misleading information on imported olive oil products. NSW Nationals Senator John Williams spoke on the issue in the Senate recently, urging regulatory authorities to “act fast” and avoid the Australian olive industry’s potential decimation from “wrongdoing, misleading advertising and misleading labelling”. In his speech, Senator Williams also accused retail supermarket chains of continuing “to knowingly sell” extra-virgin olive oil products that are “misleading, deceptive and not allowed under Australian standards”.
While generally a great night out, winemaker’s dinners are a dime a dozen these days. But what about a gourmet meal matched to premium local wines which also features premium local olive oil and olive products? It’s happening in Adelaide, with the Spice Market Restaurant at the Rockford Hotel presenting a dinner celebrating both of these great regional products. Viscous Virgins and Vinous Varietals is on Friday, 22 June and features Langhorne Creek olive oil producer Talinga Grove and Barossa’s Turkey Flat winery. Priced at $140pp, the event will start with a structured tasting of varietal oils, a blending competition and then a five-course meal, all accompanied by Turkey Flat’s varietal wines. What a great way to educate discerning consumers about the nuances of our wonderful fresh local oils. More information https://www.rockfordhotels.com.au/rockford-adelaide/adelaide-spice-market-dining.html by phone on 08 8211 8255 or email [email protected].
Don’t forget to enter our great 2012 Quality is Clear Cut Subscriber Competition, generously sponsored by Eclipse Enterprises Australia. Just tell us about how you prune your grove and you’ll be in the running to win one of three great prizes, each valued at over $2,600. Entry forms in the Mar-May and June-July editions of Olivegrower & Processor or via the competition link in the ad below. Entries close June 30 – don’t miss out on your chance to win the latest new pruning equipment from Campagnola.
In 300 BC, the Syrian city of Antioch had public street lighting fuelled by olive oil. At the 1900 Paris World Fair, German inventor Rudolph Diesel demonstrated his engine powered by peanut oil. Biofuels are not new, but many of the technologies are; and interest in renewable, sustainable biofuels has recently been rising due to worry about peak oil and price pressures, vulnerability of energy supplies, dependence on imports and greenhouse emissions. In April this year, Qantas made its first flight using a 50-50 blend of refined cooking oil and regular jet fuel.
Congratulations to Fair Go this week for a thorough, no-nonsense comparison of New Zealand extra virgin olive oil and the so-called European extra virgin olive oils sold in supermarkets, says Herald columnist Paul Holmes, who also declares his interest as a New Zealand producer of extra virgin olive oil.
The program sent 14 extra virgin olive oils bought at 14 supermarkets off to Australia for testing. The entire seven randomly-chosen European oils all failed to pass the extra virgin test.
It’s a good time to think big when it comes to growing table olives in California, and fewer trees this year are going into the ground in the state to produce olive oil. But production of olive oil in California is expected to nearly double over the next few years. And both industries have a common enemy — imports of questionable quality. Those were among observations at a University of California program in Tulare where participants also heard the latest on mechanical harvesting, olive knot and verticillium management and use of olive mill waste water for nutrition and for management of olive diseases and insect pests.
A decline in olive and pomace oil imports into Canada and Australia is “worrying,” the International Olive Council declares in its April newsletter. It reports that October-February imports into Canada and Australia were 20 and 5% lower respectively than the same period last season. “This is particularly worrying” it says “because this downward movement has been happening for three months in a row.”
Sales of imported food items are growing at 20-25% and are seen touching 30-35% in the next two years. The sales of olive oil have overtaken those of Saffola, a premium cooking medium made from sunflower seeds, in Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar, the food and grocery retail chains of India’s largest listed retail company Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd. That olive oil costs two-and-a-half times the price of regular sunflower oil and is at least 25% more expensive than Saffola hasn’t deterred buyers.