Croatia's olive oil producers fight quantity with quality
Monday, 8 December 2008
VODNJAN, Croatia, Dec 7 (AFP): Croatian olive farmer Sandi Chiavalon has high hopes of taking on the might and quantity of Greece, Italy and Spain with the quality of oil from his groves.
The three European giants may account for more than three- quarters of global olive oil production, but Chiavalon is one of many young Croatian entrepreneurs readying their produce for a niche in the EU market.
"We will only have a future if we produce top quality (olive oil)," says the 25-year-old, who started olive-growing as a hobby with some 30 trees but whose oil now ranks among the world's top 15, according to industry bible L'Extravergine.
"Our target should be a superior oil that the market is lacking and people are ready to pay for.
"We are too small to fight with quantities," says Chiavalon while sitting in an ultra-modern oil taste-testing room set up for tourists opposite his house in Vodnjan, a tiny town in the northwestern peninsula of Istria.
Despite a tradition dating back to Roman times, neglect and changes linked to the economy and demographics saw Croatian olive-growing decline after World War II, when its Adriatic coast had some 40 million trees compared with today's six million.
The sector has seen a revival since its 1991-1995 independence war, when with the decline in tourism many tried to supplement their incomes through traditional means.
It expanded notably during the past eight years with the planting of new trees and revitalisation of old, abandoned olive groves, largely thanks to the rising number of young, educated farmers and state investment.
The three European giants may account for more than three- quarters of global olive oil production, but Chiavalon is one of many young Croatian entrepreneurs readying their produce for a niche in the EU market.
"We will only have a future if we produce top quality (olive oil)," says the 25-year-old, who started olive-growing as a hobby with some 30 trees but whose oil now ranks among the world's top 15, according to industry bible L'Extravergine.
"Our target should be a superior oil that the market is lacking and people are ready to pay for.
"We are too small to fight with quantities," says Chiavalon while sitting in an ultra-modern oil taste-testing room set up for tourists opposite his house in Vodnjan, a tiny town in the northwestern peninsula of Istria.
Despite a tradition dating back to Roman times, neglect and changes linked to the economy and demographics saw Croatian olive-growing decline after World War II, when its Adriatic coast had some 40 million trees compared with today's six million.
The sector has seen a revival since its 1991-1995 independence war, when with the decline in tourism many tried to supplement their incomes through traditional means.
It expanded notably during the past eight years with the planting of new trees and revitalisation of old, abandoned olive groves, largely thanks to the rising number of young, educated farmers and state investment.