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<pre>I might be on a subject where people clam up here....but.


What are bulk oil prices at the moment??
The prices here seem to be going down!!
$8 per litre in bulk is all I can acheive - but yet the retail prices
are not dropping.

I have a small grove (150 trees)in South Australia with 40 yr old
Verdale, Manzanillo and Mission trees.

The oil produced is very good and always recieves favourable comments.
Yeild is around 15 - 16% on average.

Cheers

Russell
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I decided to leave fruit on the trees this year (around 16 tonnes)because I
can not even break even at current oil prices. Don't knowhow other people can
do it, perhaps blending oil or something?

Frank

Hi Russell:

We are offering bulk olive oil as follows:

The current market prices for this week from 23/05/2005 till 28/05/2005 are as
follows:

EV 0.8 Deg max €2,675/ton FOB Latakia, Syria in Flexitank
Virgin 2.0 Deg Max €2,600/ton FOB Latakia, Syria in Flexitank

With my kindest regards

Hassan Zeno
Director
Zeno Food Industries Co.

P. O. Box 11900
Aleppo, Syria

Off. +(963-21) 266-6003
Fax. +(963-21) 266-6081
Mbl +(963-94) 488-444

e-mail: zenooil@...
www.zenooliveoil.com

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<pre>Hi Russell,
We are in South Australia too and we harvest olives
from our 150 year old grove for our estate label and
as well we harvest olives from other groves and buy
oil from other growers to produce a blend for our
second label.

So far this year I have been offered some very good
oil at $6 per litre and best quality oil from very old
trees at $8 per litre. Although the retail price for
established premium label Australian evoo in bottles
appears to be the same now as this time last year the
pressure is for prices to go down. Considering the
increasing volumes of evoo being produced in Australia
that is to be expected. Every week when I call on
retail shops we supply I see new labels out at lower
prices with smart packaging. I also see prices that
indicate to me some producers are selling their own
oil at a price they can't be making any
money...perhaps cutting their losses. In Adelaide
Central Market you can buy 'clean skin' 2 litre casks
of local evoo for $15. You work it out. At $6 to $8 /
litre the oil alone in a 2 litre cask costs minimum
$12 and then add minimum $2 per unit for packaging.
Then there is labour and production costs and
retailers generally like to make a minimum 50% mark
up. The labelling laws seem to be a joke. So much oil
is sold at retail level from 20 litre plastic
containers with taps or small stainless steel
tanks...all sold in clean skin or in the customer's
own container. As I understand the labelling
legislation that is only legal for the producer to do
at the farm gate/ cellar door. Also so many new /
existing labels in shops have no nutritional
information, no best before date and no address of the
producer. Of course many producers are selling their
oils in different packages under different labels at
different price points.

So Russell given my observations it's a tough
unregulated market out there at the moment. Much like
the wine industry where some growers aren't picking
their grapes because of over supply and wineries only
paying premium prices for top quality premium grapes.
So if you are getting $8 per litre for your oil I
would expect your oil would be very good. My guess is
many growers are getting $4 to $5 per litre or less.
Growers who want to get a good price will need to
produce top olives and harvest them for quality rather
than letting them get over ripe in order to maximize
volume.

In my experience the best oils come from olives
harvested at mixed stages of ripeness. That is a
mixture of green,yellow, red and black olives. Of
course there are other varietal and regional factors
to be taken into account. I think a grower harvesting
and pressing premium olives that yield 10 - 15% oil
should get a higher price than a grower pressing very
ripe olives yielding 25 - 32%. Of course it's supply
and demand. Look to the wine industry. Seasonal
variations and market trends mean the finished premium
evoo you see on gourmet shop shelves needs to be
blended to maintain quality and style.

There is and will increasingly be a market for quality
blending components and they will attract a premium
price. Similarly there will be a market for quality
bulk oil and a lesser price for everything else. The
other difficulty to consider is that consumer and
retailer knowledge is still very limited. We were
invited to a dinner recently where a saucer of rancid
olive oil and nasty 'balsamic vinegar' was served to
each guest . Not a good way to start a meal and it
tells us a lot about consumer knowledge. On the other
hand when people taste premium evoo they are amazed.
Why are producers still selling evoo in clear glass
bottles? Light, heat and air accelerate the
degeneration of evoo.

This is a late night effort and I have had quite a bit
to say....
Russell if you are getting $8/litre at wholesale you
are doing very well. If you want more you will need to
package and market your own product in a dynamic,
difficult, unregulated, environment. I think the
premium growers need to start making contact with
different premium producers in order to ensure a
reasonable return and to ensure the best product gets
to stay on the shelves...not just the cheapest.

Antony Whiting
First Creek

Thanks so much for your comments Antony.

It's good to hear what is going on out there. At least I know I'm acheiving
a decent market price.
It was only a few years ago that I could see $10 a litre, now there is much
more oil on the market - but a huge variance in quality.
My grove is only a hobby but I like to think I am seeing a decent price for
my oil.

Cheers

Russell

Let's talk about economics.

Our trees are young and this year they produced on average 4kg each.

On the first day of harvesting, I had 10 workers who were costing me
$17.5/hr. In eight hours they managed to hand rake 880kg of olives.
That translates to 158 lit of EVO (very dry year and oil content is
down from 22% to 18%).

At $7 / lit, my income would be $1106, while my harvesting expense
alone is $1400. What about other costs?

As I can not move my grove to one of the developing countries for
picking, I have no option but to leave fruit on the trees or pick
olives myself which would take me about 1500 hours or 180 full days
:-)

When comparing world prices of EVO, one should not forget, that in
Australia, it is impossible to find workers who are happy with
something like $4/ hr , unless government allows migrants on temporary
visas during the harvesting time.

Perhaps I should become more creative with marketing: $7/lit for EVO
plus fuel levy, dry weather levy…..

Frank

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<pre>Hi Frank,
There is another way to pick your olives. Your hired
help at $17.50 an hour were getting paid a lot for not
picking very much. At an olive press at Willunga (SA)
on monday I met an ethnic Italian couple who I guess
were in their late 50's who had picked about the same
quantity of olives as your pickers in two days. My
wife and I picked (and pruned) 200kg from one 150 year
old tree in one day on the weekend and then with two
helpers and our son only got another 70 kg the next
day! Four of us picked 500 young trees at Gawler River
two weeks ago but only got 250 kg, although that
yielded an astonishing 80 litres. At Hahndorf my wife
and I and two pickers harvested 760 kg from young
trees on a weekend. We always pick on the weekend and
press on monday.

Small producers can't afford to pay for pickers unless
they are very efficient pickers. What's the solution?
We invite our friends to join us. Between 2 - 12
people but I know one grower who had 100 turn up. We
put on some good food and wine and we give them some
of the oil we produce. Most people really enjoy the
experience. We now have friends flying in from Sydney
for a weekend's picking because they find it so
enjoyable. At the press the other day I met someone
who had friends drive over from Melbourne to join in
the olive harvest.

Rather than spending all that money to pay pickers,
who are costing you more than the return you get on
your oil, why not invite your friends, family and
colleagues and buy some wood oven bread, some farm
house cheeses, nice fresh tomatoes, olives, olive oil
etc and some wine? It will cost you a lot less and it
will be a lot more fun.

We have built a wood oven fired with olive wood to
produce pizza, sour dough bread, roasted meats and hot
pots. Single pot cooking works well or do a BBQ if you
like. Just make sure lunch is not too indulgent and
make plenty of coffee/tea. You will soon sort out who
to invite back next time. Some don't contribute
much...some over indulge...some are great
company...some are excellent pickers. It's a good way
to get to know people too. Everyone really enjoys it.
Later you can invite them all back to try the finished
oil. Some will love to accompany you to the press.
Think of it as a harvest festival.
Where are you? What olives are you growing? How many
trees? Provide a little more info and you may find
other offers of advice, help, interest inn your oil.

Regards
Antony Whiting
Waterfall Gully
South Australia

--- cfe55 <cfe55@...> wrote:

> Let's talk about economics.
>
> Our trees are young and this year they produced on
> average 4kg each.
>
> On the first day of harvesting, I had 10 workers who
> were costing me
> $17.5/hr. In eight hours they managed to hand rake
> 880kg of olives.
> That translates to 158 lit of EVO (very dry year and
> oil content is
> down from 22% to 18%).
>
> At $7 / lit, my income would be $1106, while my
> harvesting expense
> alone is $1400. What about other costs?
>
> As I can not move my grove to one of the developing
> countries for
> picking, I have no option but to leave fruit on the
> trees or pick
> olives myself which would take me about 1500 hours
> or 180 full days
> :-)
>
> When comparing world prices of EVO, one should not
> forget, that in
> Australia, it is impossible to find workers who are
> happy with
> something like $4/ hr , unless government allows
> migrants on temporary
> visas during the harvesting time.
>
> Perhaps I should become more creative with
> marketing: $7/lit for EVO
> plus fuel levy, dry weather levy…..
>
> Frank
>
>
> --- In OliveOil@yahoogroups.com, "Russell Driver"
> <tyke@c...> wrote:
> > Antony Whiting wrote:
> > > Hi Russell,
> > > We are in South Australia too and we harvest
> olives
> > > from our 150 year old grove for our estate label
> and
> > > as well we harvest olives from other groves and
> buy
> > > oil from other growers to produce a blend for
> our
> > > second label.
> >
> >
> > <snip wonderful posting>
> >
> >
> > Thanks so much for your comments Antony.
> >
> > It's good to hear what is going on out there. At
> least I know I'm
> acheiving
> > a decent market price.
> > It was only a few years ago that I could see $10 a
> litre, now there
> is much
> > more oil on the market - but a huge variance in
> quality.
> > My grove is only a hobby but I like to think I am
> seeing a decent
> price for
> > my oil.
> >
> > Cheers
> >
> > Russell
>
>
>
>
>
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<pre>Hello Frank,

This level of prices are amazing and good there are agricultural
employeers able to pay 17.5 US$ an hour for picking olives. If they
pay also social secutiry and income tax and social health price per
hour is very attractive for immigration. I am thinking about it.

In Extremadura (spain) thousands of small agricultores are selling
their olives to the olive mill.

If 1 liter of extra virgin olive oil is sold in the market to the
consumer at 3.2 euros/litter i imagine that they are selling their
olives very cheap.

Spanish government is subsidizing production of olive but i do know
in what size, maybe around 1 euro per kilo of olives.

We pick with our friends our olives in a very un-economically way
but with a lot of fan....

Good luck with production and sales!


Skype: ecofinca


--- In OliveOil@yahoogroups.com, "cfe55" <cfe55@y...> wrote:
> Let's talk about economics.
>
> Our trees are young and this year they produced on average 4kg
each.
>
> On the first day of harvesting, I had 10 workers who were costing
me
> $17.5/hr. In eight hours they managed to hand rake 880kg of olives.
> That translates to 158 lit of EVO (very dry year and oil content is
> down from 22% to 18%).
>
> At $7 / lit, my income would be $1106, while my harvesting expense
> alone is $1400. What about other costs?
>
> As I can not move my grove to one of the developing countries for
> picking, I have no option but to leave fruit on the trees or pick
> olives myself which would take me about 1500 hours or 180 full days
> :-)
>
> When comparing world prices of EVO, one should not forget, that in
> Australia, it is impossible to find workers who are happy with
> something like $4/ hr , unless government allows migrants on
temporary
> visas during the harvesting time.
>
> Perhaps I should become more creative with marketing: $7/lit for
EVO
> plus fuel levy, dry weather levy…..
>
> Frank
>
>
> --- In OliveOil@yahoogroups.com, "Russell Driver" <tyke@c...>
wrote:
> > Antony Whiting wrote:
> > > Hi Russell,
> > > We are in South Australia too and we harvest olives
> > > from our 150 year old grove for our estate label and
> > > as well we harvest olives from other groves and buy
> > > oil from other growers to produce a blend for our
> > > second label.
> >
> >
> > <snip wonderful posting>
> >
> >
> > Thanks so much for your comments Antony.
> >
> > It's good to hear what is going on out there. At least I know I'm
> acheiving
> > a decent market price.
> > It was only a few years ago that I could see $10 a litre, now
there
> is much
> > more oil on the market - but a huge variance in quality.
> > My grove is only a hobby but I like to think I am seeing a decent
> price for
> > my oil.
> >
> > Cheers
> >
> > Russell
</pre>
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