Olive oil has been produced for centuries in Greece and the substance Homer referred to as "liquid gold" still forms an integral part of the Mediterranean country's traditional diet and lifestyle.
However, the world's first commercial producer and exporter of olive oil, while still a market leader in terms of quality, is facing strong challenges from abroad.
Spanish success
Spain has cornered the mass market and as the worlds largest producer also sets the global prices. Restructuring of the Spanish olive oil industry over the past 15 years has allowed the country to almost treble its production potential.
The introduction of new tree varieties allowing mechanical picking, larger farms and cooperative arrangements for equipment, as well as new technology, have turned the country into a formidable competitor for Greece.
Competition has also come from across the Adriatic in Italy. Thanks largely to an aggressive post-war marketing drive, Italy was the first oil producer to penetrate international markets. The push was so successful that for many consumers olive oil remains synonymous with Italy to this day.
However, the competition has not stopped a number of Greek producers successfully entering international markets and achieving strong recognition for Greek olive oil as a generic brand.
Generically Greek
Gaea is a relatively young company, set up in 1994, that has blazed a trail for Greek exporters, penetrating markets all over the world. The company has doubled its export business every year, with turnover in 2000 rising to 1.25 billion drachmas, from 627 million drachmas in 1999.
High growth is expected to continue with forecasts for 2001 turnover predicted to exceed 2 billion drachmas.
Managing Director Aris Kefallonanis attributes growth to the company's successful operational model which focuses on a broad range of attractively packaged products, consistently high quality and a specialist distribution network.
Gaea has opted to supply major distributors, who in turn get their products on the shelves of international supermarket chains, rather than targeting the traditional diaspora market (Greek communities living abroad) a popular mistake among some producers.
The company has maximised its market potential by forming reliable relationships with distributors such as Trustin/Unimerchants in England, Liberty Richter in the US and German company Importhaus Wilms.
Pioneering export markets
A significant degree of the company's success in penetrating international markets has been put down to good timing. Gaea regards itself as a pioneer in each of its foreign markets, having been amongst the first companies to introduce Greek olive oil into Britain, Germany, Denmark, Norway and the US.
In the UK, the company launched at the same time that another similar Greek product was appearing on the shelves. In fact, the simultaneous launch of the products increased awareness and spurred demand for Greek olive oil and Kefallonanis insists that the real challenge for Greek olive oil producers is not competition between various companies and products, but the generic promotion of Greek olive oil.
"The major task that lies ahead of us is to consistently promote our healthy Greek Mediterranean cuisine and the Greek lifestyle." The Gaea director believes that the strength of the Greek industry lies in the quality of the oil it is capable of producing. Whilst Italy was first off the mark in promotion and Spain has become the largest industrial producer, no other country can yet compete with Greece in terms of quality.
