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<pre>Hi Mike,

You will forgive me for providing a different
view of the olive oil market in Australia.

You are correct in saying that the Olive Oil
market has changed considerably in Australia over
the past fourty plus years. I certainly can
recall the small bottles of Faulding's Olive Oil
that were sold next to the Cod Liver Oil in the
pharmacies. The average Australian did not buy
Olive Oil for cooking; they actually only bought
butter for special occasions. Lard was the big
seller in terms of a cooking fat. Lard was the
magic ingredient in crusty and flaky pies and it
brought another dimension to baked potatoes and
roasts. Even today, chefs making traditional
Aussie tucker prefer a good fatty roast and
secretly add lard as their "secret" ingredient.

For many years, my family sold blended vegetable
and olive oils in the Central Market in Adelaide.
Our customer base ranged from the traditional
Greek and Italian families, through Lebanese,
Egyptians and Israelis to gourmands and gourmet
chefs like the Premier of South Australia, the
late Hon. Don Dunstan. Whatever I say about the
Australian market is based upon that experience.

The Greeks don't only buy Greek Oil, nor do the
Italians only buy Italian Oil..... the biggest
selling 4 litre tin of olive oil fourty years ago
was Dante Olive Oil in the blue tin. It was well
priced, it was typically recent season because of
the volumes sold and it had a consistent quality.
In those days, a company called D'Oro sold a
blended vegetable oil in 4 litre tins which was
considerably cheaper. Greeks, Italians, Lebanese
bought Dante for their salads and D'Oro for their
frying. Rapeseed Oil (Canola) in those days had
an unfortunate smell of fish when used and people
hated the taste in salads.

We used to sell blended vegetable oils which had
a strong olive oil presence. When we could, we
bought South Australian Olive Oil because it had
the strong robust flavour demanded by the Greeks.
The Italians wanted an oil that was lighter and
more fragrant. You don't use a strong, peppery
olive oil in risotto nor on a good mozzarella and
ripe tomato. Of course, the Southern Italians
liked their oils stronger than the Northern
Italians.

The secret to selling olive oil was never whether
it was EVOO or blended. Some wanted a cheap olive
oil for frying and cooking. Over the years, even
the Greeks and Italians moved from Olive Oil to
Safflower and Sunflower Oils; today Canola does
the trick. The secret has always been matching
olive oil aromas and taste to local cuisines.
.... nothing more, nothing less...... we need to
convince even the savoury dip manufacturers to
use Olive Oil rather than Canola in making
taramosalata (greek roe dip) for the Australian
market.

If you restrict your market to those well
travelled, affluent gourmands then you will have
to provide a product that suits their cuisines;
typically Mediterranean cuisines but mainly
northern Italian and Souther French, with a
smattering of middle eastern and possibly some
Moroccan cuisines.

But the market is much broader. The restauranter
would love to have a guaranteed supply of
different olive oils; some for the table to have
with bread instead of butter, some with spices to
enhance the flavour, some to make an aoili
instead of the typical mayonnaises served with
fish ... and chips, some with their salads, a
different one for cooking various dishes. It does
require suppliers who are willing to provide
different oils at different times of the year and
keep them keenly priced against imports. It
requires a knowledge of cooking as well as of
wholesaling and olive growing.

Some research has been done on the different
market segments in the Australian Olive Oil
Industry. It was presented at an Olive Conference
in South Australia a few years ago by Caroline
Rowe of The Loyalty Factor. Despite numerous
attempts to have the detailed research released
to the olive industry, I have failed.... perhaps
someone else will succeed in releasing the
precious data. The gourmands are but one small
segment.

The key problem for Australian olive producers is
going to be one of being cost competitive against
imports on the supermarket shelves. Imports have
traditionally come from the EC countries, i.e.
Spain, Italy and Greece. They have the power of
brands and well organised marketing to back them.
Turkish and Argentinian producers will
increasingly tackle this market and small but
significant volumes are beginning to arrive
locally.

One of my research students has just completed a
study of the potential impact of a Countervailing
Duty on EC olive oils on the Australian market.
The report has just been submitted to the
examiner and hopefully we can release the case
studies and the accompanying article very soon.
If the experience of Argentina is any guide, then
Countervailing Duities on imported EC products
will lead to a rapid rise in imports from
third-country sources and reduce the consumption
of olive oil per capita. Sobering data indeed!!!

The Australian industry needs to stop thinking
that EVOO will be their saviour. It won't! They
need to become price and quality competitive,
they need to develop brand and taste preferences
for their product, and they need to produce a
wide variety of oils suited to different needs.
That includes infused olive oils.

Frankly, the IOOC is doing a great job for the
EC. Australia will need to compete with products
based on its distinctive products. Even if
Australia followed IOOC standards (i.e.
definitions) this will not reduce the high import
duties which price Australian product out of the
EC. Australian exporters will need to tackle the
EC producers head on in places like Japan, the
USA and the rest of Asia ... with products that
are distinctly Australian not mere shadows and
imitations of European products.

Mike, you are doing a great job working with
limited resources and within a restricted market
segment. Let's not forget the lessons of the
Australian wine industry; what saved the
declining wine industry in the 1960's was not
Penfold's Grange but Barossa Pearl.....what
saved them in the late 70's was not the premium
wines, but the high quality casks (Chateau de
Cardboard) ... what saved them in the UK market
in the late 80's was bypassing the traditional
wine wholesalers and selling directly to the
large supermarket chains.

With great respect to all those pioneers out there,
Lambros Karavis.
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