Greek Olive Oil News Site Lacks Funding to Continue

Press release

The only wide-ranging English-language website focused on Greek olive oil news has stopped providing up-to-date information about the Greek olive oil world due to insufficient funding. With 224 original articles, the Greek Liquid Gold: Authentic Extra Virgin Olive Oil website (greekliquidgold.com) reached consumers in 197 countries, especially the USA.

Approximately 150 articles from the unofficially nonprofit site were republished by other news outlets in the USA, Australia, Canada, Greece, Spain, and other countries. This created an even broader audience for news and information about the high quality and health benefits of Greek extra virgin olive oil, as well as stories, recipes, photos, and agrotourism and food tourism suggestions from Greece.

For over three years, the only online source of in-depth English-language information from and about the Greek olive oil sector that extends beyond one topic or company shared the successes of the people who make, bottle, and export this national treasure. For example, greekliquidgold.com told the stories of a ship captain who gave up his vessel to return to his family olive groves; Greek teachers, linguists, a lawyer, and other professionals who turned to the olive oil business; Greeks’ responses to people who believe the best olive oil comes from Italy or Spain; and a 510 euro bottle of olive oil from an ancient olive tree.

Greekliquidgold.com has been praised by Greek and American embassies and consulates and Greek olive oil sector professionals, and awarded twice by the Association of Cretan Olive Municipalities. North American Olive Oil Association executive director Joseph R. Profaci claims that “Greek Liquid Gold is one of my few go-to sources for accurate news and information about olive oil.”

In recent months, greekliquidgold.com has featured articles on Greek olive oil tourism, Greeks’ responses to new American tariffs, expectations for the Greek olive harvest, Greek successes at international olive oil competitions, a compound found in olive oil that fights breast cancer relapse, and how to buy and store olive oil. 

Greece produces the third largest quantity of olive oil in the world, with a larger percentage of extra virgin than anywhere else. Yet before greekliquidgold.com was launched in 2016, Anglophones like Lisa Radinovsky had a hard time finding reliable, up-to-date information from the Greek olive oil sector. Covering the sector for Olive Oil Times starting in 2015, Radinovsky discovered that she needed to get all her news first-hand from Greek olive oil producers, bottlers, marketers, exporters, and judges. Living in Crete with her Greek husband since 2002, she was able to do that. But most non-Greeks are not.

A former English professor concerned that too few consumers outside Greece were aware of the quality of the country’s liquid gold and the stories behind it, Radinovsky decided to share what she had learned with the general public, first on a Facebook page, and then on a website she created with technical help from Twin Net Information Systems. With Greek olive oil losing its market share in various countries, Radinovsky strove to help Greece catch up with competitors such as Italy and Spain in reaching out to consumers worldwide.  

Work on greekliquidgold.com, which does not sell olive oil, was funded mainly by Greek olive oil companies’ advertisements on the site, supplemented by contributions from a few import companies outside Greece. While Radinovsky’s full-time writing and promotional work was appreciated, the great challenges and low profit margin in the Greek olive oil business meant sponsors’ contributions tended to be limited. She had hoped more expatriate Greeks would support her work.

After a one and a half month effort to increase financial support returned insufficient results, Radinovsky decided that this one-person project was unsustainable for a writer unable to continue offering extensive volunteer work. Fundraising efforts stole too much writing time, and a lack of funds for visits to olive oil producers and events in various parts of Greece limited the scope of coverage.

Since Radinovsky believes no one else attempts to cover news from the entire Greek olive oil sector in English on a regular basis, she deeply regrets that her years of work on behalf of the Greeks who work with olive oil have ended. International consumers will again lack a readily accessible, up-to-date information source for a product that has been central to Greek culture, cuisine, history, and economy for millennia.

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Sponsors and advertisers who were committed to supporting greekliquidgold.com in 2020, if the site continued with updates:

The Region of Crete, GreekBioStore, OleaJuice, Levantes Farm, Liokareas, Hellenic Agricultural Enterprises, Trace Analysis and Mass Spectrometry Group at the University of Athens Department of Chemistry, the Greek Olive Estate, Athena International Olive Oil Competition, Yanni’s Olive Grove, Anoskeli, Terra Creta, Golden Tree, Anopaea Organic Estate, Artemisia Estates, Oliorama, Loutraki Oil Company, Exploring Greece, PJ Kabos, Olive Poem, Carter Imports, Agrovim, Stalia, Energaea, St. Elias, Armonia International Olive Oil Competition, Gaia Vitality, Elenianna, the Organoleptic Laboratory of the Agricultural Cooperative of Rethymno, the World Olive Center for Health  

Window on Greek Olive Oil World Celebrates 3rd Anniversary

Greece produces the 3rd largest quantity of olive oil in the world. This small country has about 157,000,000 olive trees owned by 600,000 families, plus 2,000 olive mills. Yet it has just one wide-ranging English-language website focused on its olive oil and the people who create it--Greek Liquid Gold: Authentic Extra Virgin Olive Oil (greekliquidgold.com).

Olive oil has been central to Greek life since ancient times, crucial to its cuisine, culture, and economy. Homer called it a liquid gold, and the mythical goddess Athena provided ancient Athenians with the first olive tree, thus becoming the namesake of their city. Today, olive oil remains essential to the Mediterranean diet lauded as the “Best Diet Overall” by US News and World Report. However, even a few years ago, it was very difficult for non-Greek consumers to find out about the people working in the Greek olive oil sector and the excellent extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) they produce.

In August 2016, that changed: greekliquidgold.com was launched by Lisa Radinovsky, an American professor of English who had been living in Crete with her Greek husband for 13 years, learning and writing about the Greek olive oil sector for 1 ½. She decided it was time to share the intriguing facts and stories she had encountered: evidence that olive oil can help fight cancer, heart disease, inflammation, and dementia; a new type of olive oil competition in ancient Olympia focused on such impressive health benefits; ways to taste and use olive oil; a ship captain who gave up his vessel to return to his family olive groves; and much more.

Now, greekliquidgold.com has reached readers in 192 countries worldwide. More than 200 original articles provide news, information, recipes, and agrotourism and food tourism suggestions, offering something for everyone—cooks, foodies, tourists, and curious consumers as well as olive oil aficionados. Greek Liquid Gold articles republished by American, Australian, Greek, and international publications include the stories of Greek teachers, linguists, a lawyer, and others who turned to the olive oil business; Greeks’ responses to people who believe the best olive oil comes from Italy or Spain; and a 510 euro bottle of olive oil from an ancient olive tree.

On the island of Crete in Greece, home of that ancient olive tree, greekliquidgold.com received an award from the Association of Cretan Olive Municipalities for its promotion of the culture of the olive and olive oil’s health benefits. Across the Atlantic, the executive director of the North American Olive Oil Association, Joseph R. Profaci, says “Greek Liquid Gold is one of my few go-to sources for accurate news and information about olive oil.” Profaci is one of the international olive oil industry experts interviewed by Greek Liquid Gold, most recently regarding the possibility of US tariffs on European olive oil. 

Emmanouil Karpadakis, export manager at Terra Creta and vice president of the Exporters’ Association of Crete, considers Greek Liquid Gold “a great source of information about high quality Greek extra virgin olive oil in English. With Greek Liquid Gold, more readers around the globe are able to understand the special characteristics of Greek varieties, the particularities of the Greek olive oil sector, the wonderful Greek olive oil brands that are available on the international market, and how to best use a great Greek EVOO with different dishes to get the most out of the Mediterranean diet.”

Maria Katsetos of Loutraki Oil Company recommends greekliquidgold.com as “the place to go to learn about the many facets of olive oil and its production and the health benefits of this amazing liquid gold!” Evi Psounou Prodromou of Yanni’s Olive Grove reports that the Greek Liquid Gold website and Facebook page serve as her family’s “‘daily newspaper,’ because through them, we read about everything new in the EVOO business.” For Prodromou, the website is also “like ‘an open window’ for all Greek EVOO producers” to reach out all over the world “to share our news and achievements with people who love EVOO.”

As a renaissance in Greek olive oil production begins to parallel the resurgence that has already brought international attention to Greek winemaking, greekliquidgold.com chronicles the international successes of increasing numbers of Greek producers who invest in the education, innovation, technology, and painstaking effort required to make some of the world’s best extra virgin olive oils. Greek Liquid Gold will continue to explore the exciting new horizons opening up for Greek olive oil, connecting its readers with the stories of the land and the people who cultivate olives in Greece.
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This is a press release that may be freely copied and republished without additional permission, along with the photos that appear with it. For more information about greekliquidgold.com, see About Us on the site’s bottom menu or contact info@greekliquidgold.com. To learn about sponsorship opportunities, see Advertise.

Press Release: World’s First Greek Olive Oil Info Site in English Celebrates 1st Birthday

American consumers worry about the high price of Italian olive oil. Greeks continue to struggle with economic difficulties eight years into a crisis. And the Greek olive oil that could help support both a Greek recovery and reasonable olive oil prices does not get the international attention it needs. For the past year, an American living in Crete has been trying to change that with the world’s first independent English-language website focused on Greek olive oil, Greek Liquid Gold: Authentic Extra Virgin Olive Oil (www.greekliquidgold.com).

In the past two years, Lisa Radinovsky has conversed with a Greek ship captain turned olive farmer, an Italian computer programmer who produces olive oil in Greece, an ancient Greek teacher who sells olive oil with edible gold flakes in the Middle East, and dozens of other Greeks in the olive oil industry. And she has shared their stories on her website.

Radinovsky’s olive oil education began when she started writing for the online American publication Olive Oil Times. She soon came to believe that Greek olive oil producers and exporters were not getting the credit they deserved for their efforts to produce high quality, healthy olive oil—a higher percentage of extra virgin than any other country.  

A former English professor accustomed to sharing what she learned, Radinovsky decided to create the outlet for Greek olive oil news and information that did not yet exist. She included sections on the health benefits of olive oil and the Mediterranean diet and added photos, recipes, and agrotourism and culinary tourism suggestions to appeal to a broad readership. She teamed up with another Princeton alum, Dimitris Doukas of Twin Net Information Systems Ltd. in Athens, to create this new website.

In the first year since the website’s launch, Radinovsky has published over 100 original, in-depth articles on it, and a number of them have been republished in Australia, Greece, the USA, Spain, and Italy. She has covered such topics as olive oil prices, predictions for olive oil production, olive mill visits, types of olive oil, the history of olive oil in Greece, and Greek olive oil companies’ innovations, support for Alzheimer’s research, and awards.

Radinovsky has gained the attention and support of the major Greek olive oil industry organizations, multi-award winning Greek olive oil companies, and numerous experts in the olive oil world, publishing interview-based articles as part of her original reporting. After just one year, the website has readers in 131 countries, while its companion Facebook page has more than 1,000 followers.

Radinovsky reports that Greek olive oil producers, marketers, exporters, and tasters have thanked her for “providing a new way for them to reach out to the world and share their voices, so they have more chances to share their products.” For example, Evi Psounou Prodomou of Yanni’s Olive Grove believes Greek Liquid Gold “is an accurate and independent website” that “gives an equal chance to anyone in the EVOO business.” James Panagiotopoulos of PJ KABOS considers Greek Liquid Gold “a great, reliable source to find any information one can imagine about Greek olive oil.”  

Evgenia Andriopoulou of Makaria Terra explains that “Greek Liquid Gold provides an integrated platform for the promotion of the qualities of the best Greek olive oils. It certainly fills a gap. Despite the fact that there is a clear attempt to promote Greek olive oils, the articles and posts remain completely fair. All is based on facts, and this is good not only for the site and its development, but for the overall promotion and the preservation/improvement of the integrity of quality Greek olive oil.” 

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Note: this press release may be freely published as long as a live link to the site discussed, www.greekliquidgold.com, is included. For more information, please contact info@greekliquidgold.com.

Olive Oil Prices Vary; Greece Offers Excellent Options

Although recent news headlines warn of soaring olive oil prices, these increases are neither universal nor uniform. The world has seen lower olive oil production levels this decade, and excellent extra virgin olive oil is still available at prices that are more than reasonable given the work put into creating its high quality and striking health benefits.

Emiko Terazono wrote about olive oil price increases in a recent Financial Times article, “Mediterranean drought sends olive oil prices surging,” which has been copied and quoted repeatedly. Many sources do confirm that prices have increased due to weather problems that reduced olive oil production in Spain, Greece, Tunisia, and especially Italy in the 2016-17 crop year, with price increases becoming more apparent recently due to a time lag before new olive oils reach store shelves.

However, it is worth noting that the amount of the increase varies considerably depending on the consumer’s location and the olive oil producer or exporter, as Greek Liquid Gold reported in February and has now reconfirmed.

When Panayotis Karantonis, director of the Greek Association of Olive Oil Processors and Packers, told Terazono “Italy is terrible, Greece is terrible, and Tunisia is terrible,” he was not referring to olive oil quality, but to production levels, which fortunately did not fall as much in the olive oil producing giant, Spain, as it did in the other main producing countries—a crucial point to note, as Karantonis explained to Greek Liquid Gold.

Terazono also mentioned that worldwide olive oil production levels are higher than in 2012 and 2014. In fact, the CEO of Luque Ecológico, Juan Manuel Luque, has estimated this year’s Spanish olive crop as “lower than what some operators expected,” but still “among the best ten in history.”  

Karantonis informed Greek Liquid Gold that “the most recent data concerning olive oil production world-wide and also in the major producing countries” will be available after this week’s International Olive Council annual meeting in Rome; before that, it may be premature to discuss production numbers. Furthermore, we will need to wait until the end of June or the beginning of July for “a more reliable forecast for next year and a much clearer picture of the market,” since this year’s olive oil market will be affected by the prospects for next year.

As Karantonis explained to Greek Liquid Gold, even in this difficult harvest year “there are still excellent quality olive oils in Greece. Greece does not import extra virgin olive oil, so what you buy is authentic Greek extra virgin olive oil” (EVOO). The award-winning Greek olive oil exporters discussed in Greek Liquid Gold’s February article about olive oil supplies and prices recently reconfirmed that they are exporting high quality EVOO this year at prices ranging from the same as last year’s to 26% higher than last year.

Myrta Kalampoka of Eirini Plomariou in Lesbos suggested that Greek producers are still working to earn the reputation their EVOOs’ high quality deserves, so that many have not yet been able to increase their prices to a fair level. Kalampoka took time out from her agrotourism enterprise to tell Greek Liquid Gold that while Eirini Plomariou “exports only high quality olive oil” that is especially rich in healthy polyphenols, their prices remain “stable” compared with last year.

Similarly, Stratis Camatsos of evo3 Olive Farms in Lesbos explained that “the quality of EVOO that we export has been consistent throughout the years,” with an “acidity of about 0.3-0.4%,” yet his company has not changed their prices much since last year. Camatsos argues that “Greek olive oil is underrated, but it has been consistently shown to be some of the highest quality EVOO on the market when comparing polyphenols - which is what gives olive oil its health impact.”

Camatsos believes that on Lesbos “the prices have been lower than in most parts of Greece, and thus we have been able to keep our prices on par with previous years. Even if we do see a spike, we keep our prices relatively the same so our customers can still enjoy our olive oil at a price they are accustomed to, and therefore we lower our profit margin.”

Other Greek producers have also settled for a lower profit margin in order to keep their customers. For example, Kostas Kidonakis of Kidonakis Brothers in Crete told Greek Liquid Gold that his company had to pay 30% more for their olive oil this year, yet they increased their prices no more than 12%, absorbing most of the price increase and selling “at almost no profit,” although their EVOO “is certainly one of the highest qualities,” as its multiple awards suggest.

Evi Psounou Prodromou of Yanni’s Olive Grove in Chalkidiki, northern Greece also reports having excellent EVOO. Their prices increased 6 or 7% since last year. Prodromou argues that “consumers and buyers should buy Greek EVOOs, because most of the Greek producers are small companies, and they produce small quantities. Their only ‘weapon’ to sell against big foreign producers is the highest possible quality.” With smaller quantities, many focus more on quality.

Nikos Charamis of KASELL S.A., producers of Phileos and Nine EVOOs in Laconia, Peloponnese, explained to Greek Liquid Gold that they have also “managed to maintain our excellent quality despite the unfortunate conditions,” although they did need to increase their export prices by about 25% compared to last year. Even so, Charamis argues that Greece remains an excellent source of extra virgin olive oil because it produces a larger percentage of EVOO in comparison to its total olive oil production than any other country (estimated to be 80% or more of Greece’s total).

Maria and Athanasios Katsetos of Loutraki Oil Company, makers of ELEA EVOO, tell Greek Liquid Gold that their company goes beyond the awards and certifications visible on their website to do “rigorous quality testing by expert affiliated analytical chemists specializing in state-of-the-art methods for the quality assessment of olive oil,” also assessing olive oil stability during storage, and having trained olive oil tasters do a sensory evaluation. They did need to increase their prices about 26% this year since farmers were selling their EVOO at higher prices, which meant a reduction in their sales.

Even so, Maria and Athanasios Katsetos “believe that Greece is a very blessed country. From climate to terrain conditions to the combination of sea and mountainous regions, Greece makes up a perfect recipe for any agricultural production if used wisely, effectively and respectfully.”
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Thanks to everyone who provided comments for this article, and thanks to Yanni’s Olive Grove for the photos. 

Originally published on Greek Liquid Gold: Authentic Extra Virgin Olive Oil. This article may be republished without additional permission if the author, Lisa Radinovsky, is clearly acknowledged, and the republication comes with a live link to the original source, http://www.greekliquidgold.com/index.php/en/news/261-olive-oil-prices-vary-greece-offers-excellent-options.