There are more than just a few case histories which illustrate the success of italian flagship products, especially in the luxury food sector, despite fake imitations and Italian sounding products which are always lurking somewhere, of which Italian manufacturing companies are all too well aware. For Oleificio Zucchi the export today stands at around 20 million euros and growing, with a positive trend in previous years. “We are present in 40 countries and we are reporting good results in Europe, the Far East and the Usa”, tells Giovanni Zucchi, managing director for Oleificio Zucchi, “but the expansion strategy includes the acquisition of additional market share. One of the more evident problems exists in non-tarrif barriers practised in many countries – the Usa, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, South Africa and India – which, in comparison to Italy, impose much stricter limits on the use of fungicides (for example chlorpyrifos-ethyl), which impedes the export of the majority of Italian olive oil. From a product level, I would say that the response from the markets is particularly reactive to Zucchi’s high quality range and its related condiments, of which both the sweet and the savoury lines have been well received by the public”.
In the mills and oil firms of Italy an art is being practised which is still unknown to most people, that of blending: the ability to pool together oils from different varieties and provenance in order to obtain a product of the three “original oils” but which is better than the three original oils on their own. This skill is typically an Italian one, and it is very much needed. It is necessary to note that today Italy produces half of all olive oil consumed (around 300 thousand tonnes out of 600 thousand) and it even has the need to find a further 400 thousand tonnes for export, therefore resulting in having to resort to combining oils of different provenance, provided that the quality of the raw material is still guaranteed.”
