`Spanish Producers Fear Imminent U.S. Import Restrictions - Olive Oil Times
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Spanish Producers Fear Imminent U.S. Import Restrictions

By Charlie Higgins
Oct. 24, 2012 19:09 UTC


A har­vester at California Olive Ranch

Spanish olive oil pro­duc­ers are up in arms over the ​“unfair” and ​“absurd” mar­ket­ing order being con­sid­ered in the United States Congress they fear would place heavy restric­tions on the impor­ta­tion of olive oils, accord­ing to La Rioja.

The United States, which imports more olive oil than any coun­try in the world, pur­chased a total of 61,470 tons from Spain in 2011. The top oil-pro­duc­ing state of California pumps out approx­i­mately 10,000 tons annu­ally — a fig­ure dwarfed in com­par­i­son to the 276,000 tons imported each year, mostly from Spain and Italy– but pro­duc­ers in the Golden State have ambi­tions to pro­duce much more than that.

The mar­ket­ing order was first pre­sented last January at a con­fer­ence in Dixon, California and has since become a hot issue in the indus­try. California pro­duc­ers say the mar­ket­ing order could reduce the amount of poorly labeled and sub­stan­dard olive oils arriv­ing from over­seas, lev­el­ing the play­ing field for local pro­duc­ers to com­pete with imported olive oils.

Meanwhile, the North American Olive Oil Association, com­prised of major importers and dis­trib­u­tors, called the new ini­tia­tive​“an attempt to restrict trade by com­pletely elim­i­nat­ing sev­eral cat­e­gories of olive oil, while also impos­ing rejected test meth­ods on the indus­try.”

Gregorio López, head of the olive sec­tor at Spain’s Coordinator of Agricultural and Livestock Organizations (COAG), said the steps being taken by the United States are, ​“out of char­ac­ter” and an ​“abuse” that has put olive oil pro­duc­ers ​“on alert.”

López said the orga­ni­za­tion is wary that the pro­posed restric­tions, which include enforc­ing 100 per­cent qual­ity con­trol of incom­ing prod­ucts (cur­rently only 5 per­cent is ana­lyzed) and stricter olive oil label­ing stan­dards, will result in Spanish olive oils being ​“held up at cus­toms.”

“We must sit down with the Americans to see what they are doing. We must act with speed and agility and lay ground rules so that pro­duc­ers are not harmed.” López said.

Other indus­try rep­re­sen­ta­tives in Spain pointed out that although the issue has been ongo­ing for months, it is just now heat­ing up on the eve of a close elec­tion in which President Barack Obama needs to pick up votes in California.


Jaime Garcia-Legaz

Though a deci­sion has yet to be made, Spain’s Minister of Commerce Jaime Garcia-Legaz has been mon­i­tor­ing the issue closely to pro­tect the best inter­ests of olive oil pro­duc­ers who have suf­fered major losses in recent years.

In March, Garcia-Legaz trav­eled to Washington where he met with USDA Undersecretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Edward Avalos and Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Miriam Sapiro to dis­cuss Spain’s posi­tion on the mat­ter.


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