Ehud Soriano (Israel). In his country he holds a variety of different positions. He is an Olive Oil Consultant, a head of the Tasting Panel of (recognized by the International Olive Oil Council), an instructor of tasting panels, a director of the Organoleptic Evaluation Course. Furthermore, he is a panel leader in the two national olive oil competitions and is a taster in several international competitions. He trained at the University of Jaen, Spain, where he graduated as an expert in Olive Oil Tasting and Quality.
An introduction to the olive oil sector in Israel:
Israel is one of the cradle countries of olive oil. Olive oil production in the land of Israel goes back to the Neolithic era – 6,000 B.C. During the Roman era this area was an important source of olive oil, exported to many Roman provinces.
With the political instability of the area after the decline of the Roman Empire, and later, as the area lost its importance in the eyes of the Ottoman Empire, olive oil production declined too.
With the emergence of new agronomic and extraction techniques, which improved the yields, lowered the alternation between following years, improved the oil taste and allowed new economic horizons – the olive oil sector the State of Israel rose its head again with more than 8000 hectares planted in the last 20 years. The new intensive and super-intensive groves put Israel again in a position of supplying its own olive oil consumption once more, depending less on import from other Mediterranean countries.
Olive oil figures:
Total planted area is 35000 Hectares (the most planted fruit tree in Israel):
Around 25000 hectares are centenarian olive groves, traditionally cultivated. They have an important cultural and ecological value, but almost no economic value. Most of them are planted in the north of Israel, but they are spread in all olive cultivated areas.
Another 8000 hectares are intensive or super-intensive groves, all with economic value. they are spread from north to south, in all olive cultivated areas.
Another 2000 hectares are olive groves for table olives, again, spread in all cultivated areas.
Olive oil production in Israel is between 15000-18000 tons annually.
Around 8000 tons of imported olive oil (mostly from Spain).
Average consumption is 2.4 kg per capita.
Israel cultivating areas (a map is attached):
1) The Golan Heights (orange in the map): sub-alpine climate with Basalt soil
2) Main mountain ridge (yellow in the map), starting from Upper Galilee all the way to the Hebron mountains, with picks of more than 1000 meters. The soil is mostly Chalk.
3) The Mediterranean coast strip (purple in the map), from north to south – a humid sub-tropic climate with soil made of different types of sandstone and a sediment soil originated from the main mountain ridge.
4) The valleys of the Jordan river (red in the map) – semi-arid Mediterranean climate with extreme high temperatures in the summer and cool winters. The soil is made of Marlstone and both Lime and Basalt sediments
5) The high plains and mountains of the Negev desert in the south of Israel (green in the map) – an area of cold winters, extreme high temperatures in summer and a big temperature difference between day and night. An arid (or extreme arid) desert climate with mostly Loess soil
Israel is a developed country with a very good economic situation and therefore, the cost of almost everything one can think of is high. Agricultural inputs are no different. Adding to this start-point the necessity of irrigation (around 0.3 Euros for 1m3 of treated wastewater, and up to 0.85 Euros for 1m3 of fresh or desalinated water), high salaries regularly paid (min. monthly wage is 1300 Euros) plus all social rights, and you get a high cost of cultivation.
For 20 years there is an economic tension between the high cost of production and the market demand for commodity level prices. This tension is being slowly solved as more and more olive oil producers are shifting their focus from quantity to quality. The potential of the Israeli olive oil is unlimited, and some «star» producers are already touching the highest olive oil qualities, waiting to be followed soon by many others.
Olive oil consumption habits:
Israel is a country of a majority of Jewish migrants (80%), and an Arab and Druse minority (20%). While the Arab and Druse populations are traditionally cultivating and thus consuming olive oil as part of their every-day diet (7-8 kg per capita), the Jewish population is starting (or restarting) to use olive oil only in the last 20 years.
50% of the Jewish migrants came from central, north and east Europe, where olive oil is not part of the diet, while the other 50% – though coming from a traditionally olive oil countries (north Africa, South Europe, Middle-East) – didn’t use olive oil after coming to Israel, mostly due to poverty (during the 50′-60′) and lack of opportunities to buy it even if they had the money. Only in the 90′ and their economic «boom», bringing also new global trends of lifestyles, diets, sports and gastronomy, is when the Jewish population discovered (or re-discovered) olive oil.
Today, you can find olive oil in more than 95% of the households. The challenge of bringing olive oil to every house in Israel is achieved. The new challenge we have now is to increase consumption as part of the gaining popularity of the Mediterranean diet lifestyle.
What the future holds:
The future of olive oil in Israel is all in all bright: more and more people are getting to know the culinary virtues and health benefits of olive oil, more and more producers are making the necessary shift to quality focused olive oil and the industry is vibrant and vivid.