The Hindu Business Line : Spanish cos on olive oil promotion drive

New Delhi, Sept. 21 With ‘health and fitness’ being the mantra of the new age Indian, olive oil producing companies and brands from Spain and Italy are making a beeline for India.

Market Size

The total size of the olive oil market in the country is around €4 million in terms of value and 2,000 tonnes in terms of volume.

Mr Jose Antonio Bretones, economic and commercial counsellor, Spanish Embassy, said: “Olive oil is one of the most natural forms of cooking oil that is extremely healthy. And considering the market is opening up rapidly, we are planning to do several initiatives to make the Indian public aware of the goodness of the oil.”

The Spanish Embassy in collaboration with several Spanish olive oil companies is arranging an event in India at the end of the month, where people from varied backgrounds such as retail, distribution and socialites will be told about the benefits of using the oil.

“Almost 60 per cent of the current olive oil market in India consists of companies from Spain. In fact, the entire amount is exported to India since soil and weather conditions are not very conducive. The Spanish companies had set aside a budget of €30,000 for generic activities and another €1,50,000 for concrete marketing plans in India,” said Mr Bretones.

They are going to put in substantial resources in marketing their brands of olive oil through the fast emerging modern organised retail chains in the country.

Brand launch

Meanwhile, Filipo Berio, an Italian brand of olive oil, has been launched in partnership with R R Oomerbhoy Pvt Ltd (RRO), an Indian manufacturer and marketer of edible oils.

“We will use our unit in Mumbai for bottling the Filipo Berio brand. We intend to sell 1-1.5 lakh litres of the brand in the first year of operations here,” said Mr Riyad Oomerbhoy, Managing Director, RRO.

While the 100-ml and 200-ml packs will be bottled here in India, the 500-ml bottles will be imported from Italy, with the average price being Rs 700 per litre.

However, Filipo Berio, unlike its Spanish counterparts will be primarily marketed through the neighbourhood mom ‘n’ pop stores, given the Oomerbhoy’s strong distribution network. RRO intends to leverage the modern retail chain route as and when the organised chains develop further.

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