ATHENS – With Greek olive oils long undermarketed and sold in bulk to Italian companies who rebrand it, two Greek investment firms are teaming up to form a company that will acquire majority stakes in three olive oil companies for exports.

Investment fund SMERemediumCap, led by Nikolaos Karamouzis, and Inspiring Earth, headed by Konstantinos Antonopoulos have joined to create what’s said to be a major force in the industry with a 10 million euro ($10.84 million) bet.

They are forming a new joint company taking over the noted Latzimas, Sitia Oils-Lasitia, and Olympian Green International, said Kathimerini, the aim to make a major player in the olive oil sector internationally where Greek brands lagged.

https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1244326/olive-oil-companies-join-forces-to-export/

Greek olive oil is among the world’s best and smaller companies have won a batch of international prizes but exports haven’t grown significantly compared to those in other countries which are more aggressive in marketing.

In 2022, Greece was the world’s fourth largest exporter of olive oil, with only 8.74 percent of the market, and worth $843 million. Spain – also the world’s largest producer – was first with 43 percent, worth $4.23 billion.

For 2023-24 Greece was fifth in production, with 195 tons, behind Tunisia, Turkey, Italy and Spain on top, with 766.4 tons, but the prized Greek product continues to be sold to companies in other countries instead of marketed.

Some 82 per cent of Greece’s 300,000 tonnes of typical annual oil output is nevertheless high-quality extra virgin olive oil, which is largely used not for branded Greek exports but by Italian and Spanish producers to add flavour to their own oil, according to Giorgos Economou, director-general of Sevitel, an Athens-based group of olive oil companies. “Let’s not blame the wicked Spanish and Italians, but our own inability to add value to Greek olive oil and sell it,” he told The Financial Times in December, 2023.

https://www.ft.com/content/4eded34e-9abc-4ec6-bc93-e18712fcbe9f

Cristina Stribacu, owner of LIÁ, an award-winning premium olive oil, told the financial news site said Greek olive oil should have a major presence abroad and lamented how much is exported in bulk.

When Spanish and Italian output in 2022 fell 40 percent because of a drought, Greek companies didn’t step up, she said, missing a chance to get more attention worldwide in food stores and supermarket shelves.

“Instead of taking advantage of the lack of Italian and Spanish products and placing our Greek olive oil on the shelves of international supermarkets, we just helped them to keep their place by selling to them in bulk,” said Stribacu.

The Greek investors want to change that through their plan and long-term agreements guaranteeing access to the highest quality olive oil on Crete and on the Peloponnese, home to famous olives.

Their objective is to expand Greek brand olive oils domestically too but focusing on key markets in the United States and Canada, Brazil, Japan and Oceania, which are among the biggest importers of the product.

“We are particularly satisfied and optimistic about our entry into a sector in which our country has a stable and significant global presence, as well as our effort to financially consolidate companies with dynamic potential, benefiting local economies, workers, and the country,” said Karamouzis.

He said that Greek olive oil has tremendous growth potential while Antonopoulos added, “With our 10 years of experience in the field of olive oil, we see that in a period of turmoil in global production, this collaboration is the right step towards creating a new entity with a leading role, capable of meeting the great challenges and opportunities in the international market.”

The effort comes as olive oil prices have soared, almost doubling in some cases, making the top-quality Extra Virgin out of reach for many Greek households who have turned to cheaper alternatives and other oils.