Jordan Times
Thursday, July 15, 2004
First-ever shipment of extra
virgin olive oil leaves for US
By Sarah McGregor-Wood
AMMAN — The first shipment of Jordanian extra virgin olive oil left for the
United States on Wednesday with producers and exporters hoping this heralds the
opening of a significant new market for the premium product sector.
JOMO Food's shipment of a 20 feet container of high quality oil is the
culmination of eight months work by the company, in close collaboration with the
Jordan United States Business Partnership (JUSBP).
JOMO Food, formed two years ago by a group of nine companies looking to export
high quality produce, already ships to Russia, France and Saudia Arabia. The
company, however, had always planned to target the US market. “We designed our
production and labelling to US requirements from the beginning,” commented JOMO
Food General Manager Yousef Barjakly.
JUSBP, a USAID-funded project, in cooperation with CEBX-Global, a US marketing
and research company, worked with JOMO Food to ensure it met International Olive
Oil Council (IOOC) standards and complied with Free Trade Agreement regulations,
as well as helping the company assess market potential in the US, resolve
pricing issues, and find a distributor.
The first shipment will be marketed under the US distributor's label, but the
company hopes that any future orders will be packaged using their own Terra
Rossa brand.
JUSBP and CEBX-Global are also working with four other extra virgin olive oil
producers to facilitate their entry into the US market.
“This shipment will open doors for Jordanian olive oil companies,” indicated
Maha Shawareb, acting president and CEO of JUSBP. “It puts Jordan on the map as
a country that produces high quality olive oil and can compete with other major
producing countries. We expect that this will only be the first in a series of
shipments by JOMO and other companies.” There is certainly market potential. The
US is the world's largest importer of olive oil, shipping in over 200 million
tonnes annually. Jordan ranks as the tenth largest olive oil producing country
in the world with an annual output of around 15,000 tonnes.
To comply with IOOC standards for extra virgin olive oil, all companies are
required to send their products to accredited testing sites in Italy and Spain,
a process which takes around two months.
“Jordanian olive oil is as good as oil from any other producing country.
According to the testers, the distinguishing taste note for our product is
tomato,” Barjakly pointed out.
As well as looking to move the boundaries beyond traditional export markets,
JOMO Food is also looking at a new way of marketing its product domestically.
“We're looking at the example of Italy's agro-turismo,” stated Marketing Manager
Rania Hamarneh.
The company's state-of- the-art mill, near Queen Alia Airport, is part of a
larger complex which will eventually house an olive oil museum and restaurant.