World Olive Oil Exhibition (WOOE), the international meeting of reference for producers and buyers of the olive sector has concluded its eleventh edition after two intense days in Hall 1 of IFEMA.
Nearly 5,000 visits of olive oil professionals from more than 50 countries have visited the stands of the more than 800 companies represented from Spain, Croatia, Jordan, Turkey, Portugal, Iran and Greece in a commercial, training and meeting forum for the world olive sector. It was attended by representatives from practically all the member countries of the International Olive Council (IOC).
Among the round tables and forums held at the WOOE, Vilcon, through its CEO Juan Vilar, participated in the following, being also one of the most important and expected of the fair.
Management of olive oil companies. From the vision of the master miller. This was the manual presented by Juan Vilar and with the participation of Pedro Martínez, general manager of IMS industrial control; Joaquín Morillo, COO of Grupo Oleícola Jaén; and Manuel Jiménez, CEO of Agrícola San Francisco. The three highlighted the importance of training, knowledge and experience in projects and the importance this has for the sector. This philosophy is fully reflected in this manual, also highlighting the value of exchanging opinions. At the event, the manuals were immediately sold out and the large number of attendees followed the presentation and opinions of the authors with enthusiasm.
Olive oil, fixer of population in rural areas. Once again, a topic of extraordinary topicality and concern on the part of the sector and its mobilizations. In this case, we talked about the competitive model that should be followed by EU and Spanish agriculture, what the profile of the farmer should be and how generational succession could be guaranteed. It was also discussed how the current price of land limits access to young farmers and the performance of their activity. This round table, moderated by Juan Vilar, had exceptional speakers: Luis Carlos Valero, manager and spokesman of ASAJA; Cristóbal Cano, secretary general of UPA Andalucía and member of the board of directors of the Interprofessional by UPA; and Juan Luis Ávila, secretary general of COAG Jaén and member of the board of directors of the Interprofessional by COAG.
Evolution of the 2024/25 campaign: what is happening around the world with olive oil?
To round off this successful edition of the WOOE, each and every continent on the planet was analyzed in terms of olive oil. Speakers from Oceania included Leandro Ravetti, co-ceo Cobram Estate Olives Limited; from Africa, Ajmi Larbi, senior researcher, Institut de L’olivier; from North America, Jorge Pereira, international consultant and URE professor; from South America, Frankie Gobbee, co-founder and general coordinator of Olive Group; and from Asia, Mohamed Aymen Bejaouys, international sales manager, CEAO GEA. Finally, for Europe, and moderating this closing table of the fair, was Juan Vilar. On this occasion, it was pointed out that the shelf price in the 198 countries that consume olive oil are similar and that because of these prices, which are highly attractive for the sector since all types of plantations are profitable, the crop continues to increase its surface area. On the other hand, it was pointed out that, following consumer sophistication, it is very likely that prices will have changed ground for the future, provided that the entire sector is capable of defending and promoting the product, thus saving this upward variation in the ground price in the event of a new increase in supply and a potential crisis in demand.