The Hindu Business Line : Of olive oil and sticky issues...

One of the Council's objectives is to consolidate the technical activities... We have many sticky issues and tricky situations between member-nations. — MR HABIB ESSID, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL OLIVE OIL COUNCIL

The mandate of the International Olive Oil Council, a UN entity that has its headquarters in Madrid, is to enforce quality norms for both olive oil and table olives and to promote their usage in markets beyond the producing countries. For the three years between 2007 and 2009 the Council will focus on promoting olive oil in three markets — India, Japan and Russia, the Council Executive Director, Mr Habib Essid, told Business Line in Greece.

Excerpts from the interview:

What is going to be the focus of the Council in the coming years?

During 2007-2009 we will be focussing on two main objectives, the first one is to consolidate the technical activities of the Council, and the second is to aggressively increase the activities pertaining to the promotion of olive oil and table olives. Promotion is one of the main objectives of the Council and in 2007 this specific programme will be divided in two parts. One will deal with promotion in new countries, and we will focus mainly on three countries. The first one, where we will have a direct programme of activity will be India. In 2007, the main objective of the Council will be to promote consumption of olive oil and table olives in India; the other two countries are Japan and Russia.

Have you done any study on the kind of market India can provide for both products?

Yes, we have done so; in fact, we've had many contacts with India on this subject during 2006.

What kind of interest have these contacts shown in importing olive oil to India?

They are very much interested. In fact, at the last Consultative Committee and the meeting of the associations we had invited some people from India from the profession.

But in Greece knowledge about the Indian market is rather poor, though the Italians and Spanish seem to be have a better idea of the potential of the Indian market...

Yes, that's right; but things will change.

What are your production targets?

The total production of olive oil is three million tonnes all over the world (Spain is the largest producer at 1.2 million tonnes) and about 1.8 million tonnes of table olives. The area planted under olives is increasing by around 100,000 hectares every year around the world. This is very important for future production because this is being done with intensified type of orchards so the density of plantation is very high; it can go up to 2,000 trees per hectare. And as the picking of olives is mechanised, the impact on production will be greater and in the next five years we'll see the results.

This is the twin objective of the Council — how to manage from one side the technical activities which will have a positive impact on the supply of the product and on the other side carry out promotion activities in order to increase the demand for the product. Our objective is to keep this balance between demand and supply all over the world.

Coming to India, it is a huge, but also a price-sensitive, market. Many middle-class homes use sunflower oil, and only a bit of olive oil, which is 8-10 times costlier than the other cooking oils used. Would you encourage some of your member-countries to set up bottling and packaging plants for oil imported in bulk, to bring down the cost of the finished product? Do you think this is a possibility?

Of course, these are all possibilities, but the whole thing depends mainly on the member-countries and there are some companies in India that are already doing this activity on a small scale. But this can be done on a larger scale.

What kind of meeting did you have in Greece?

We actually had two meetings, one, of the Consultative Committee, and another of the Council. Such occasions are opportunities for us to get into contact with the profession. In the Committee we have the producers, the industry, the consumers and the traders/exporters. At such meetings, all the time we underline the importance of enforcing better quality control in order to maintain standards. And for this samples are taken from producers and importers.

So much of importing and blending of olive oil seems to be taking place; everybody mentions Italy in this respect... .

Italy is doing a good thing because they are trying to take different good qualities and make a better quality olive oil. We have some problem with blending in some countries such as South Korea... and in Hong Kong too we had some difficulties... but usually samples are taken and we do periodic analyses. We meet twice a year to watch on this by getting information on the ground.

I've also heard whispers that your member-countries overstate their production in order to get incentives from the EU...

This happens in all countries where you have subsidies or incentives; the farmers and the industries will try to get as much as they can from the system.

How much of handholding of farmers does the Council or the member-country governments do? In India we have huge distress levels especially among the smaller farmers... In Greece, I found that the government gives them protection. Do you encourage member-countries to take care of the olive growers?

Oh yes, we do. But it is something that the member-countries do and we are not directly involved...

The Council has Israel as a member, as also several Islamic countries such as Iran, Syria, etc. I'm sure there must be fireworks at some of your meetings. As the Executive Director do you have to use your skills to ensure some sanity and order?

Oh yes, we do have many sticky issues and tricky situations. For example, after the recent standoff between Israel and Lebanon, Lebanon complained that Israel had bombed some areas particularly targeting its olive trees.

So what did you do?

I told them that this is mainly a political issue and political issues should be raised at the United Nations. But as far as olive trees are concerned, there are many trees that are thousand of years old and you can't bomb them; it's a crime to bomb or destroy olive trees which benefit all mankind.

These are as precious as national monuments; they should be protected with the same fervour. In a war, nobody can bomb olives trees...

So you need the skills of a politician to deal with such issues...

Oh yes, and I have the experience of a politician! I was the Minister for Fisheries and Environment in my country (Tunisia, which is the fourth largest producer of olive oil after Spain, Italy and Greece). So that experience comes in handy. Such discussions and debates will continue.

And we have some interesting combinations coming up; in 2007 the President of the Council will be Iran and the Vice-President will be Israel; in the next term Israel will move up to be President and then the Vice- President will be Libya. W'ere headed for interesting times!

Response may be sent to rasheeda@thehindu.co.in

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