Sins of the olive oil market
The illegal turnover of the olive oil market in Greece is estimated at half a billion euros every year, as about 70,000 tons is traded in bulk in the domestic market, without documents, in tins or plastic containers. State losses just from the non-collection of VAT are estimated at €60-70 million, to say nothing of the quality of the product sold in bulk.
“More than two thirds of the bulk olive oil samples that have been taken from time to time as part of checks are inappropriate or incompatible with the claims of their producers or, in the worst case, adulterated,” said the president of the National Interprofessional Olive Oil Organization (EDOE), Emmanouil Giannoulis, at a press conference on Wednesday on the major issues concerning olive oil.
The fact that 25% of domestic production and over 70% of domestic consumption is traded in bulk is basically one of the reasons why there are no exact statistics on the situation in the sector, but only estimates.
“In Spain, they may know every month with minimal delay the balance of the previous month (production, sales, stock), but in Greece we do not know precisely any of the above,” said Vassilis Zampounis, vice president of the scientific society of olive growing (4E).
