Bell-Carter Cancels Table Olive Contracts in California

Bell-Carter has ter­mi­nated ​“many” of its table olive pur­chas­ing con­tracts with California grow­ers, accord­ing to Tim T. Carter, the company’s CEO.

“This ter­mi­na­tion is effec­tive imme­di­ately and we will not receive your har­vest in 2019,” Carter wrote in a let­ter to grow­ers, a copy of which was obtained by Olive Oil Times.

In the let­ter, which was sent out to table olive pro­duc­ers at the begin­ning of this month, Carter cited the need to com­pete in a global mar­ket­place and the increas­ing cost of pro­duc­tion for California olives as two of the rea­sons for the can­cel­la­tions of the con­tracts.

In a state­ment to Olive Oil Times, Carter declined to say how many con­tracts had been can­celed.

“Bell-Carter com­petes in a global mar­ket­place as a can­ner and mar­keter of table olives,” he said. ​“Unfortunately, due to ris­ing cost increases for California olives, Bell-Carter made the nec­es­sary but dif­fi­cult deci­sion to release many California grower con­tracts.”

“While this deci­sion is extremely dif­fi­cult for us and for our many grower part­ners dat­ing back three gen­er­a­tions, it is imper­a­tive to remain com­pet­i­tive and viable,” Carter added.

These words, as well as the let­ter, came as lit­tle com­fort to Ud Shanker, a table olive pro­ducer in California’s Central Valley.

“With the excep­tion of a few years dur­ing the past 19 years, we have seen our olive pro­duc­tion grow to exceed 20 tons,” Shanker told Olive Oil Times. ​“Some years we have pro­duced more than 30 tons. All sold to Bell-Carter.”

Shanker now has an abun­dance of table olives and nowhere to send them. He is cur­rently in the process of look­ing for new buy­ers, as are many other Central Valley pro­duc­ers who find them­selves with full stocks and nowhere to send the olives.

“We don’t have any alter­nate buy­ers, and we are seek­ing to fill the void or suf­fer a loss,” he said. ​“I’m not sure yet what to do if we are stuck with unsold olives.”

Spanish olive oil giant DCoop and their Moroccan part­ner, Devica, bought a 20 per­cent stake in Bell-Carter last August in a move that was widely seen as a way for the Spanish com­pany to evade United States-tar­iffs imposed on Spanish table olives. Bell-Carter denies that this is the case.

As part of the agree­ment, Dcoop and Devica have become the near-exclu­sive sup­pli­ers of Bell-Carter’s table olives, accord­ing to a state­ment made by DCoop’s pres­i­dent, Antonio Luque, last August.

Carter said, in spite of these can­cel­la­tions, Bell-Carter would con­tinue to source some of its table olives from California grow­ers.

“While we have released many con­tracts, we will con­tinue to main­tain enough acres to sup­port demand from cus­tomers that require California-grown olives,” he said.

This came as lit­tle solace to farm­ers, such as Shanker, who believe they are being unfairly out­com­peted by Spanish imports.

“It’s cheaper to buy from Spain than from us,” Shanker said. ”[There is] no pro­tec­tion for local farm­ers.”

He believes that the United States and California should do some­thing to pro­tect American olive pro­duc­ers.

“It is immensely impor­tant for the U.S Department of Agriculture, California Department of Food and Agriculture or another orga­ni­za­tion to help olive grow­ers,” Shanker said. ​“If soy­bean grow­ers are get­ting grants, why not us?”

In July 2018, the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission found that Spanish table olive imports were hurt­ing local pro­duc­ers after the lat­ter received two com­plaints from Bell-Carter and another California olive pro­ducer.

These find­ings were then the basis for the impo­si­tion of tar­iffs on Spanish table olives, which ranged from 7.52 per­cent to 27.02 per­cent. DCoop and Devica pro­ceeded to pur­chase their 20 per­cent stake in Bell-Carter the fol­low­ing month, which allowed the two com­pa­nies to ship table olives to the U.S. to be oxi­dized and be pack­aged, before sell­ing them in the coun­try with­out hav­ing to pay the tar­iffs.

“What are we sup­posed to do?” Shanker asked. ​“This may destroy the local olive indus­try here.”