Costa d'Oro, historic oil mill in Spoleto, presents today Italian. Under a single brand, a quality extra virgin olive oil made exclusively from Italian olives. A '100% Made in Italy', entirely tracked according to ISO standards - drupe at the drop - with geolocations on Google Streetview.
It is the most majestic project to relaunch the Italian olive sector whose credit, ironically, goes to a French group. Avril, the third global operator in the sector, just 18 months after the acquisition of Costa d'Oro invests in 4 thousand hectares of olive groves in the Bel Paese. Chapeau!
100% Made in Italy, Italian true of Costa d'Oro
The Italian extra virgin - already on the shelf, at an affordable but fair price (€ 6,99 / bottle) - is made exclusively with olives grown and pressed in Italy. A true Italian, to put it in the words of Toto Cotugno. Something different from the farce of the cd 'Italic oil'hypothesized by Coldiretti in 2018, where the blend with ester oils up to 49,9%.
Italian comes from 'over 50 mills located in 7 regions of the country (73% in Puglia and 27% in Sicily, Calabria, Basilicata and Umbria) out of a total of approximately 4 thousand hectares cultivated '. With an estimated production of 2 million liters, for the 2019-2020 oil campaign. Cultivate Coratina is prevalent, followed by Ogliarola, Carolea and Leccino.
Current suppliers they have already been selected with second-party audits. And from next month the members of the main trade associations, Unaprol and Italia Olivicola, will be added, thanks to specific inter-professional agreements.
Traceability and geolocation, the added value of Italian
The added value de Italian consists of an advanced system of traceability, certified according to ISO 22005: 2007. With an unprecedented level of transparency, which integrates the information relating to the times (of harvesting and milling of the olives) and to the places (agricultural areas and mills).
Batch code e QR code they allow easy access from the single bottle to the detailed information concerning it, through the site websites of Costa d'Oro. With the possibility, among other things, to see images of crops and oil mills, thanks to the integration with Google Streetview.
The same technology it will be extended to the other productions of which the Spoleto company is leader in Italy. That means:
- organic extra virgin olive oil (18,9% of the market by volume), in marked growth (+ 9,9%), e
- the unfiltered EVOO (36,8% of the market, in a segment that occupies 6,5% of the category).
The garrison of the valuable segments at the level of mass market strengthen the position of the brand, in third place in Italy with a turnover of 156,8 million euros (2018, + 9,6%) and over 40,5 million liters of production (including IDM, MDD and bulk). With the distinctive plus of having been able to reduce promotional pressure (-3,2%).
Costa d'Oro, towards the leadership of the 100% Italian EVOO
The value of olive juice '100% made in Italy ' is already full-blown and continues to grow. Only in Italy, according to the latest data from the Nielsen Observatory 2019, 100% Italian extra virgin olive oil is worth 19,4% of volumes in retail distribution, up by 6,9% (2018 data).
'We strongly believe in the Italian product, which we believe to be the best extra virgin olive oil in the world for quality and organoleptic characteristics' (Ivano Mocetti, general manager of Costa d'Oro).
The objective di Costa d'Oro is therefore to lead the de market Italian true, looking at the national market but also at the global one. L'acquisition of the brand by Avril (third player worldwide in olive oil, with a turnover of € 7 billion), in May 2018, has already allowed the Spoleto oil mill to expand sales in 80 countries. By increasing the share of exports which already now represents 45% of turnover.
La participants' vision
La mission of French ownership is to implement the prestige and diffusion of the Costa d'Oro brand. 'Our goal - explains Olivier Delamea, president of Costa d'Oro and general manager of the Oils and condiments segment of Avril - is to lead the Costa d'Oro brand to become a global reference in high quality olive oil on new markets, especially in China and North America. Combining innovation, traceability and natural origin '.
La participants' vision however, it is wider and involves the entire olive oil supply chain of the Bel Paese. 'The goal is not only commercial but it is also that of giving value to the Italian supply chain and to a product of the highest organoleptic and production quality, too often in crisis due to intrinsic dynamics of the market. We want to do this by staying true to the integrated supply chain model, uniting all the protagonists of the chain. Starting from the agricultural world to get to industry and large-scale distribution, in the wake of the specificity of the oil sector and experiences already implemented in other countries'.
The next step will be productive investments. That is to say, the purchase or lease of 1.000 hectares of land to develop dedicated supply chains. The varieties to be planted will be suitable for intensive cultivation (600-800 plants per hectare), in order to allow mechanized harvesting and produce at competitive prices. Negotiations are already underway in Tuscany, Basilicata and Puglia.
The redemption of Italian oil production
On hold of new plantings, Italian production returns to grow in the 2019-2020 oil campaign. A harvest of 321 thousand tons is estimated, with a + 83,4% compared to the minimum of 175 thousand tons in 2018, but still far from 429 thousand tons in 2017, and from 475 thousand tons in 2015 (source: Ismea based on Istat).
Despite the Xylella, Puglia is confirmed as the leader in the recovery, with shares that will touch 60% of the entire national production of EVOO (+ 175% on the previous year), thanks also to the recovery of the olive groves in the provinces of Bari, BAT and Foggia.
The rest of the South also did well with Basilicata, which almost quadrupled last year's production, Campania which recorded + 52% and Molise + 40% (source Cia - Italian farmers, Italy olive growing, Aifo).
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
Professional journalist since January 1995, he has worked for newspapers (Il Messaggero, Paese Sera, La Stampa) and periodicals (NumeroUno, Il Salvagente). She is the author of journalistic surveys on food, she has published the book "Reading labels to know what we eat".
