Greece’s economy is entering its sixth year of recession year. One of the few bright spots is Greece’s award-wining olive oil - that could generate billions in revenue. Yet it remains hard to find outside of Greece. Our correspondent Filio Kontrafouri reports from the island of Crete.
Each winter, a precious crop is waiting to be picked in this eastern corner of the island of Crete: the famous "koroneiki" olive. Here in the Sitia region, almost every family owns an olive grove.
Unlike other Mediterranean countries, the mountainous terrain here doesn’t allow the use of machines. And harvest is a painstaking process.
Nikos Stamatakis, Olive Oil Producer, said, "We don’t have another crop to cultivate so we are working with the olive and here, we are trying to make a living with the olive."
Filio, Kontrafouri, Grete Island, Greece, said, "Olive oil producers here can take up to two months to handpick their olives. And at the end of the process, the rewards for them are barely there."
The olive oil produced in Sitia is arguably the world’s finest. The "koroneiki" variety is native only in Greece. It has a high yield of superior quality extra virgin olive oil.
Most of it is exported in bulk in the world’s top olive oil producing countries, Spain and Italy, where it’s commonly mixed with lower quality oils and re-sold worldwide at high prices.
As the world’s third largest producer, Greece only controls 4% of the international olive oil market. While it cannot compete in quantity, it can compete in quality.
When the Agricultural Union of Sitia realized this, it created a protected ’designation of origin,’ and its own award-winning label. Sitia extra virgin olive oil is now exported in 25 countries..
Olive oil production has dropped worldwide this year but has increased in Greece. The Sitia Union estimates that it’s up 40 percent in their region alone.
Despite this year’s increased production across Greece, their olive oil they say will again profit others.
The effort to market Greek olive oil across the globe remains a lonely one, especially here-the Toplou Monastery also in Sitia has been marketing its own brand of organic olive oil for years.
And exports continue to rise throughout Western Europe, Korea and other countries. Recently the monastery managed to export its first, small quantity to China, where in the last year, Greek olive oil exports increased by 50%.
Filotheos Spanoudakis, Abbot Toplou Monastery, said, "Olive oil is Greece’s gold which is buried, it’s not being made useful. It means nothing having a goldmine if we don’t use it. This is the big problem."
The government is now investing millions in campaigns to promote Greek olive oil internationally. As many Greek olive growers now warn, without a government-backed international marketing campaign, Greece’s "liquid gold" will remain buried. Filio Kontrafouri, CCTV, on the island of Crete, Greece.