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<pre>Author: motley <gaweb@hotmail.com>

There is apparently a revolution happening in rural Australia. Millions of
olive trees are being planted to produce oil for Australian and global
markets. Australia has always imported most of its oil and with increasing
consumption and health consciousness Australians (and other Western
consumers e.g. the USA) are driving strong market demand for quality olive
oil. The company undertaking this exercise is Coonalpyn Olives Project.

Unfortunately that is all I know, any further information or leads would be
appreciated.

cheers
motley
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<pre>Motley, there is indeed a lot of olives being planted in Australia.

A recent commentator on olives in Australia said......'Australia does not
have an olive industry, Australia has an olive TREE Industry!" In about
2010 there will be a sudden rush of olive oil produced in Australia.

ALL

If I can find the references to the current position in Australia I will
post them. In the meantime, there is a very good white paper on the
feasibility of an Australian Olive Industry, produced by the RIRDC (Rural
Industries Research Development Council of Queensland). It is available in
Adobe Acrobat (pdf) format at the following site:

www.rirdc.gov.au/pub/handbook/olive.html

and the current Research and Development Plan covering 1998-2002

www.rirdc.gov.au/pub/olive5yr/

Regards,

Phil
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<pre>The Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) "Landline" program presented a
story on television today. The abstract is as follows:

Olive Special
Reporter: Prue Adams
Before June 30 this year there was a stream of prospectuses launched onto
the market, looking for investment in olive-growing projects.

It comes at a time when the industry in Australia has taken a very distinct
turn from the boutique to mainstream. By 2000 the latest RIRDC report
(launched late August '99) estimates there'll be 1.5 million trees in the
ground.
Susan Sweeney at the Department of Primary Industries in S.A has done a lot
of work finding out where the trees are planted. Here are her
up-to-the-minute figures.

Over the past ten years the amount of olive products imported into Australia
has increased from 30 million dollars worth to 115 million dollars - most of
that was olive oil (not table olives).
To put it another way we import 97% of what we consume, so this latest
strike at Olive Oil is aimed at replacing those imports then establishing
overseas markets.
Most olives come from Spain (28.8%) and Italy (22.8%) but there is
significant production in Greece, Tunisia and more recently Egypt.
Australia has some major advantages because we have cheap flat land,
Mediterranean climate and we can begin from scratch with the right varieties
and orchards designed for modern harvesting equipment, but we do have
competitors.
The so-called "old world" of Europe will probably get wise and re-invigorate
their old groves, and there are countries like Argentina, South Africa, and
even China that are entering the olive industry.

Contacts from the story:
Ian Rowe
President , Australian Olive Association
Phone: 08 9245 2100

Australian Olives
Phone: 1800 687 665
Website: www.olives.net

Coonalpyn Olives/Agrolive
Phone: 08 8338 2799
E-mail: agrolive@webspace.com.au

Barkworth Olive Groves
Phone: 07 3236 8800
E-mail: bogl@barkworth.com.au

Koorian Olives
Phone: 08 9277 8011
E-mail: rmoltoni@iinet.net.au

Qld Department of Natural Resources
Website: www.bom.gov.au/silo


I hope that helps answer questions regarding olives in Australia to date.


Phil
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<pre>Thanks Phil,

I also watched the documentary yesterday lunchtime on the ABC (major govt.
funded national public broadcaster in Australia) about the Australian olive
industry. The ABC is a quality public broadcaster (like the BBC) for those
reading this note and not familiar with TV here.

I missed some of the show due to children, but it would be interesting to
hear what others in Australia thought about the documentary.

One comment.

One point that I noticed was the difference in projected profits being
peddled in TV commercials here, and and in the prospectuses, by some of the
big olive growing companies that are planting hundreds of thousands of
olive trees. Barkworth, Koorian and a few others mentioned on the
documentary pushed returns of about 25 per cent a year, and appeared to
charge very heftly management fees (fees that probably wouldn't be
acceptable with mutual/managed funds in Australia or most other countries).
The Coonalpyn project was the only company mentioned with more moderate
(and probably reasonable) projections - about 15 per cent a year. I have
no knowledge of any of these large projects beyond this - you might find
some information on the web (if you are inteested).

More sober Australian research on the olive industry suggests that if you
are getting a return of 10 - 15 per cent from olive oil (on a broadacre
scale) in your first decade or so, you should be very pleased with
yourself.

One thing I took away from this very good documentary was that there must
be some very optimistic investors out there (with deep pockets), and that
the myth and dream of the olive is a potent and powerful mixture when
peddled by financial/taxation planners, big companies, marketing-types and
'suits'. My warning bells were sounding.

Andrew

(By the way I have no interest of any sort in any of these companies.)
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<pre>Andrew, I am about to tape the 1pm edition of Landline. I could make the
tape available to you at a later date if you so wish.

Regards,

Phil
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<pre>Anyone interested in keeping up with the olive 'revolution' in Australia
might keep an eye on the Australian Olive Association site:
http://www.australianolives.com.au.

I agree with Phil Bramley that, currently, the real revolution is in olive
tree plantings (and a no less dramatic increase in the number of olive
investment advisors, olive experts etc). However I remain optimistic that
the revolution is sustainable. As a model we have a very successful wine
industry - where the same cautionary notes are being sounded by the same
industry leaders that are planting even more vines!

Regards,
Craig Hill

__________________________________________________ _________________
Craig Hill Phone: +61 8 8332 2567 (h)
+61 8 8303 6010 (w)
Fax: +61 8 8303 4403 (w)
Email: craigh@camtech.com.au
Mobile: 0418 810 917
Craig Hill Olive Site: http://www.adelaide.net.au/~craigh
__________________________________________________ _________________
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<pre>Phil

Thank you very much for offer of a tape of the documentary, but a friend
phoned to say he has a copy for me. Thanks again.

Cheers
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<pre>Very dicey stuff indeed. I personally would stay well clear of the
'investment companies' in Olives.

It was interesting that no mention was made of the Barnea fiasco in New
Zealand and it was also very interesting that Olives Australia, who have
been in the business since 1974, was not mentioned.

I have spoken to Dr Michael Burr in Adelaide regarding his comments on the
new cultivation methods currently being trialled. His suggestion is hedgerow
style on trellising (like grapes) with spacing 3 x 2 metres. Trials have
only been conducted over the past 4 years and, as a scientist, he is very
cautious about results to date. I am currently planting a test plot (3-4
acres) according to that method and will see what comes of it.

Regards,

Phil
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<pre>>I agree with Phil Bramley that, currently, the real revolution is in olive
>tree plantings (and a no less dramatic increase in the number of olive
>investment advisors, olive experts etc). However I remain optimistic that
>the revolution is sustainable. As a model we have a very successful wine
>industry - where the same cautionary notes are being sounded by the same
>industry leaders that are planting even more vines!


Craig,

An interesting and optimistic comparison, olives and wine. As an olive and
wine grape grower in the Hunter Valley I am a little sceptical about just
how big the potential market is, and would point out that once you have
found a wonderful EV oil, you will buy a bottle, not a case.

Sure, we have a viable wine industry, but how is the Ostrich industry these
days?

Regards,

Mike Wilson.
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<pre>Hello to everyone!Would one of you Australians please tell me what your climate
is usually like in your particular part of Australia? Please give temps. in
Farenheit, if you don't mind-I'd like to know what your low temps are.
Thanks!------Livia in Atlanta----p.s.forgive my ignorance,lol, you know they
don't teach us Americans ANY geography over here! )
-----Original Message-----
From: Andrew.Petherbridge@health.gov.au <Andrew.Petherbridge@health.gov.au>
To: OliveOil@onelist.com <OliveOil@onelist.com>
Date: Monday, September 20, 1999 12:03 AM
Subject: RE: [OliveOil] Millions of olive trees in rural Australia


>From: Andrew.Petherbridge@health.gov.au
>
>Phil
>
>Thank you very much for offer of a tape of the documentary, but a friend
>phoned to say he has a copy for me. Thanks again.
>
>Cheers
>
>
>
>> ***** Life is healthier with Olive Oil *****
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