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.

First Estimates for 2017/18 Olive Oil Production Compared

The first estimates of the amount of olive oil to be produced by the major olive oil producing nations in the next crop year (October 1, 2017 to September 30, 2018) were published recently. While there is naturally some disagreement, and it is early to make predictions, a significant increase over this year’s olive oil production levels seems likely.

Writing on the English page of his Greek online paper Olive News , Vassilis Zampounis described his expectations for production in the upcoming olive crop year “compared to the current year’s production in the 8 leading olive oil producers that make up to 90% of the world olive oil production.” Including a chart comparing last year’s production with this year’s estimates (in metric tons), Zampounis explained, “the average expected increase for 2017/18 is 405,000 tons or 18.6%. In the case of the highest expected production,” which he estimates at 2,730,000 tons, “the increase will reach 555,000 tons (+25.5%). In the lowest production scenario,” or 2,430,000 tons, “the total increase will be 255,000 tons (11.7%).” Zampounis is both the editor of Olivenenews.gr and the director of the Society of Oliveand Olive Oil Products of Certified Quality (EL3P). 

The Spanish magazineMercacei reported on the “the forecast by Álvaro Olavarría, Managing Director of Oleoestepa,” a large cooperative, with an emphasis on the world’s largest olive oil producer, Spain, and the prediction that it will produce “1,250,000 tons in the 2017/18 season compared to 1,281,950 tons in the previous one.” Providing a chart with information about the top 8 olive oil producing nations dating back to the 2013/14 harvest year, Mercacei added, “olive oil production in the main producing countries will reach a total of 2,745,000 tons, increasing by 11% over the 2016/17 season, according to these forecasts.”

Spanish language publications are now sharing the international estimates of Juan Vilar, strategic consultant and professor at the University of Jaén, and Jorge Pereira, Professor at the University of the Republic of Uruguay, who expect the next olive oil campaign to produce a total of 2.827 million tons, for a 5% increase over the current crop year according to their calculations. Olivenews.gr published a Greek version of the report, along with Vilar and Pereira’s table featuring estimates in Spanish with data from the 57 olive oil producing countries that make up 93 percent of the world’s production. This table forecasts 1.2 million tons of olive oil from Spain, 290,000 from Tunisia, 280,000 from Italy, 265,000 from Greece, 200,000 from Turkey, together anticipated to be the producers of almost 80% of the world’s olive oil next year, assuming the weather cooperates.

Teatro Naturaleweighed in, only in Italian so far, with a comparison of the estimates of Mercacei, Olive News, and its own June 2 and updated estimates, suggesting the other sources may overestimate Italy’s likely production level. Reproducing the charts from Mercacei and Olive News, Teatro Naturale added a third which compares these three sources’ estimates with its own earlier forecast, commenting that there is “a degree of uniformity in the data, with the exception of Tunisia and Turkey.” (That is true of Vilar and Pereira’s predictions, as well, which call for considerably more olive oil from Turkey than the other sources.) Teatro Naturale proceeded to update its own expectations (leaving its chart a bit outdated), now estimating 1,150,000 metric tons of olive oil production in Spain, 250,000 in Italy, 250,000 in Greece, 200,000 in Tunisia, 90,000 in Morocco, 100,000 in Portugal, and 220,000 in Turkey, with Syria a big question mark given the war. Their conclusion is an estimate of 2.3 million metric tons from the Mediterranean and 2.4 million tons total, worldwide.  

Interestingly, Vassilis Zampounis’s low and high estimates of 2.43 to 2.73 million metric tons from the main producing nations is quite close to Teatro Naturale’s low expectation of 2.3 million tons and Mercacei’s higher prediction of 2.745 million tons. (Note that this does leave out the minor producers, so that the total would be expected to be higher worldwide—as Vilar and Pereira’s forecast of 2.827 million tons globally also suggests.) There is more disagreement over the percent increase compared to the current crop year (2016/17), which may relate to differing calculations of this year’s production totals as well as next year’s. Teatro Naturale does not offer a percentage. Vilar and Pereira estimate just a 5% increase, while Mercacei expects 11% more olive oil in the coming crop year, and Zampounis anticipates at least that much, and up to 25.5% more than last year.

In spite of the variations in the estimates and the early date, months before the earliest harvests begin in Greece in October, Zampounis told Greek Liquid Gold that as long as they are timely, relevant, and precise, “predictions are always useful, because they inform those involved in the market: producers, olive mill owners, merchants, bottlers. Transparency helps healthy competition. If, for example, there is surplus offer, then the logical thing to expect will be a decline of prices. In case of scarcity, prices will rise.” He especially respects “the Spanish ministry of agriculture and the interprofessional organizations of that country” as “models of information and transparency.”

Zampounis explains that predictions “can have an important influence on the prices,” and hence on “the decision whether to sell stock or keep more products in stock.” Although Zampounis has some reservations about making price predictions at this point, he informed Greek Liquid Gold that he suspects that “until the fresh olive oils hit the market (end of November, December) the prices will be stable, with some possible outbursts of price hikes due to demand for certain special qualities, etc. Starting in January 2018, prices will probably be moving normally (maybe with a small decline), influenced by other factors such as sales trends.”

Zampounis also cautioned that “the data must be monitored closely,” since “there is always the chance of unexpected weather conditions, especially in the era of climate change.” Given the need for careful monitoring, “the role of experienced professionals and agronomists who are on the spot and closely monitoring the olive groves is key.” Stay tuned for updates as they appear on Greek Liquid Gold: Authentic Extra Virgin Olive Oil, where this article was originally published.