Jordan Times
Friday, January 23, 2004
CBEX-Global to help Jordanian firms market olive oil in US markets
By Roufan Nahhas
AMMAN — US consultancy firm, CBEX-Global, will be assisting three Jordanian olive oil companies with US marketing and sales support, under an agreement signed recently with the Jordan-United States Business Partnership (JUSBP).According to JUSBP CEO David Holt, the agreement is a key step for the Kingdom's olive oil sector.
“The agreement on behalf of our combined olive oil clients is a major step in creating the bilateral linkage to potential US buyers,” he told The Jordan Times.
Project Manager Raed Haddad said the agreement will provide the JUSBP olive oil client companies with several major services.
“The agreement will cover product evaluation, extra virgin olive oil market competitive analysis, product positioning, pricing policies, and finally a US pilot sales programme,” Haddad said.
“The expected outcome of the four-month-long assistance is the provision of a viable sales and marketing programme that strategically tackles the complexities and opportunities involved in entering the US market,” he added.
Haddad pointed out that the first month will concentrate on studying the companies' strategic planning and quality of products.
“The following three months will witness the actual contact with US distributors and dealers in addition to planning export strategies to enter the US market,” he elaborated.
According to Haddad, the three companies are: Jordan Modern Food Industries Company, Alia Specialised Industries Company and Integrated Olive Products Company with another potential fourth company to be added to the list.
“We will start with these companies at first and after we see positive results we will contact other companies,” he said.
“CBEX-Global has a global presence and companies partnering with CBEX benefit from extended network and gain access to respected distributors in the US market,” he said.
He indicated that carefully planned projects to other industries are also available.
Jordan Modern Food Industries Company General Manager Yousef Barkaji said the company has been trying unsuccessfully to enter the US market.
“This programme will provide us with the market analysis needed to start our business in the US market in addition to providing the necessary pricing formula,” he said.
Last year, the Kingdom hosted the opening of an olive oil exhibition with the participation of local, regional and international firms dealing with olive and olive oil packaging and processing operations.
Jordan, which ranks among the world's top 10 olive oil producing countries, exports over 300 tonnes annually. During the last harvest season, 27,000 tonnes of olive oil were produced.
Oil exports from about 15 million olive trees throughout the Kingdom earns the country JD100 million annually.