Different kind of bottles (Plastic and glass)

Various sorts

Olive oil and olive soap

Hannes and Siggi in the supermarket

Extra-virgin olive oil

Marketing of olive oil

General Information

Over 750 million olive trees are cultivated worldwide, with about 95 percent in the Mediterranean region. About three-quarters of global olive oil production comes from European Union states. 97 percent of the EU production comes from Spain, Italy, and Greece.
Greece devotes 60 percent of its cultivated land to olive-growing. It is the world's top producer of black olives and has more varieties of olives than any other country. Greece holds the third place in the world olive production with more than 132 million trees, which produce approximately 350.000 tons of olive oil annually. 75 percent of the Greek oil production is extra-virgin. This makes Greece the world's biggest producer of extra-virgin olive oil.
In Greece every habitant consumes about 26 liters of olive oil a year.

Marketing

Every farmer gets his own amount of olive oil back and sells it individually. As a payment for processing he has to leave 15% of the oil in the factory. If not, he has to pay 3 to 4 Euros per litre to the factory. This penalty depends on the free market price.

Various sorts.

• Extra-virgin olive oil comes from the first pressing of the olives, contains no more than 0.8% acidity, and is judged to have a superior taste. There can be no refined oil in extra-virgin olive oil.
• Virgin olive oil has an acidity less than 2%, and judged to have a good taste. There can be no refined oil in virgin olive oil.
• Olive oil is a blend of virgin oil and refined virgin oil, containing at most 1% acidity. It commonly lacks a strong flavor.
• Olive-pomace oil is a blend of refined pomace olive oil and possibly some virgin oil. It is suited for consumption, but it may not be called olive oil. Olive-pomace oil is rarely found in a grocery store; it is often used for certain kinds of cooking in restaurants.
• Lampante oil is olive oil not used for consumption; lampante comes from olive oil's ancient use as fuel in oil-burning lamps. Lampante oil is mostly used in the industrial market.

Export

With 52 %,  the EU is the biggest exporter of olive oil with the main exporting lands Spain, Italy and Greece. It exports about 52 % of the world olive oil.
Olive Oil is exported to the United States, Canada, Australia, Norway, South Korea, Malta and many Arab countries.

Back to Olive oil / Regional products

Page updated 30.3.2007