Italian export of olive oil is marking the historical record for a value of € 1.3 billion in 2013, an increase of 10% compared to last year. This is what emerges from a projection of Coldiretti based on Istat data relating to the first seven months of the year.
The greatest increase in value comes from emerging markets, with a 32% in Oceania and +16% of Asian markets, but good news comes also more traditional markets with a +10% in the EU and a 6% in the U.S. Within the European market , the biggest consumer of Italian oil is Germany, with an increase of 5%. On the non-EU side, purchases remain stable in China while there is a leap forward in Japan (+18%) , which become the third reference market after the USA and Germany.
Italy - states Coldiretti - is the second largest producer of olive oil with about 250 million plants but it is also the world's largest importer . The turnover of the industry is estimated at 2 billion € with a labor-intensive for 50 million working days . It's thus important - concludes Coldiretti - the need for rules to protect consumers in a country like Italy where olive oil is pretty much on the tables of all Italians with a domestic consumption estimated at about 14 pounds pro capite.
