international olive council june market newsletter

MARKET NEWSLETTER No 51 – June 2011

Source: International Olive Council page 1

Business at the 37th meeting of the IOC Advisory Committee

(a) Campaign to promote consumption of olive oil and table olives in the USA/Canada

The IOC Advisory Committee on Olive Oil and Table Olives recently convened in Istanbul, Turkey, on 27 June 2011 for its 37th meeting. During discussions, the IOC Executive Director presented the Minneapolis-based public relations consultancy Colle+McVoy DBA, Exponent PR, the winner of the open call for tenders issued by the IOC. After successfully vying with five other agencies, Exponent will implement the IOC campaign to promote olive oil and olives in the United States and Canada in 2011 and 2012. The IOC will oversee the campaign for which it will provide €1.2 million in funding ($1.7 million). The launch of the 18-month campaign has been timed for 11 July, coinciding with the Fancy Food Show in Washington DC. The campaign focus will be on the health promoting benefits of olive oil and olives, amongst other things, and it will aim to position olive oil as North America’s cooking oil of choice and to elevate table olives to a more prominent place in the North American palate.

(b) Ten-country review of olive oil imports by product grade

The Executive Director of the IOC gave a detailed analysis of import trends, itemised by category of olive oil, over the last eight crop years in nine markets where the IOC has run promotion campaigns in the past or intends to do so (Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Japan, Russia, South Korea, United States) plus the European Union. According to the figures reported, 68 percent of the oils imported in 2009/10 were virgin olive oils, 27% belonged to the olive oil grade and 5% were olive pomace oils. In aggregate terms, imports by this group of countries have climbed from 432 325 t in 2002/03, when extra virgin accounted for 55% of imports, to 584 559 t in 2009/10 when the share of extra virgin olive oils was 68%. The chart below traces the movements in imports (%) for the three grades of product. For more information, see: http://www.internationaloliveoil.org/documents/viewfile/5176-powerpoint-presentation-38th-meeting-of-the-advisoy-committee/2

(c) Olive oil consumer profiles

Four experts from Greece, Portugal, Syria and Turkey gave a presentation on the profile of olive oil consumers in their home country.

• Greece

In his profile of the olive oil consumer in Greece, Panayotis Karantonis, the Director of the Greek association of olive oil manufacturers ESVITE reported that Greece currently consumes 225 000 t of olive oil. Despite boasting the highest level of per capita consumption of olive oil – 20 kg/person/year – Greece’s domestic consumption has dropped in recent years, mainly due to the severe and deepening crisis in the country. Forty-five percent of total domestic demand comes from self consumption of olive oil farmers while end consumers account for 30% and food service (restaurants, hotels, etc.) for 25%. To view the presentation, click here: http://www.internationaloliveoil.org/documents/viewfile/5180-the-profile-of-the-olive-oil-consumer-in-greece-by-panayotis-karantonis/1



• Portugal

The profile of the olive oil consumer in Portugal was presented by Mariana Matos, Secretary General of the Portuguese association Casa do Azeite. Portugal consumes some 88 000 t of olive oil, which accounts for 32% of total domestic consumption of vegetable oils. In 2010, the breakdown of consumption by product category was 47% extra virgin, 45% olive oil and 8% virgin olive oil. Click here to view the presentation: http://www.internationaloliveoil.org/documents/viewfile/5177-the-profile-of-the-olive-oil-consumer-in-portugal-by-mariana-matos/2

• Syria

Omar Adi, the Director of the Near East Olive Products company NEOP, outlined the profile of consumers in Syria, segmented by the rural population, and the urban population divided into two groups (+ 50 years old and 30–49 years old). In 2009/10, Syria consumed 120 500 t of olive oil and 116 000 t of table olives. Olive oil represented a 24% share of consumption of edible oils and 84% is sold in >16kg tins rather than in bottles. View the full PPT presentation at http://www.internationaloliveoil.org/documents/viewfile/5178-the-profile-of-the-olive-oil-consumer-in-syria-by-adi-omar/2

• Turkey

In his presentation, Cengiz Dikmen, the Director of TARIS, reported that consumption of extra virgin olive oil dropped in 2010 whereas consumption of olive oil rose on year-before levels. In 2009 the extra virgin segment accounted for 41% of sales versus 35% in 2010. Consumers prefer 5 kg tin and tend to be over the age of 30. To find out more, go to http://www.internationaloliveoil.org/documents/viewfile/5179-the-profile-of-the-olive-oil-consumer-in-turkey-by-cengiz-dikmen/2

1. INTERNATIONAL TRADE: +20% IN FIRST SEVEN MONTHS OF 2010/11

In the first seven months of 2010/11 aggregate imports by the six countries listed in the table below rose by 136 331.1 t (+20%) compared with the same period the season before. Between October and April, imports increased into Australia (+1%), Brazil (+21%) Canada (+12%) and the USA (+6%) versus the same period of the previous crop year. Conversely, Japanese imports fell by 10%. EU data were not available for April at the time of writing, but the figures for the first six months of the crop year show a very large increase (23%) compared with the season before.

MOVEMENTS IN PRODUCER PRICES Graphs 1 and 3 track the weekly movements in the producer prices paid for extra virgin olive oil and refined olive oil in the top EU producing countries. The monthly price movements for the same two grades of oil and refined olive-pomace oils are shown in Graphs 2, 4 and 5 respectively.



• Extra virgin olive oil: Comparison with the same period of the year before shows that prices have

dropped by 1% in Spain (€1.97/kg) but increased by 5% in Greece (€2.04/kg) and 41% in Italy (€3.77/kg) – Graph 1. Prices in Italy have dipped slightly after hitting their highest ever level in the 20th week (€3.92/kg).

Graph 1

Graph 2



Refined olive oil: The same comparison for refined olive oil shows that prices have stayed at the same level (€1.71/kg) as the same period the year before while they have dropped by 1% in Italy (€1.84/kg) in Italy (Graph 3) from season-before levels. No data are available for Greece.

Graph 3

Graph 4



Graph 5

international olive council june market newsletter

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