The 8th World Olive Oil Exhibition ended with a growth of 50% in terms of participation of international purchasers

The World Olive Oil Exhibition (WOOE) took place the 27^th and 28^th of March at Madrid’s IFEMA 

The 8^th World Olive Oil Exhibition ended with a growth of 50% in terms of international purchasers, as well as visitors from 40 different nationalities and more than 760 exhibiting companies coming from 10 different countries. Spain has been represented by 10 out of 13 producing regions, which capture in total 98% of the national production.

The launching ceremony of the world’s biggest international fair devoted to olive oil was held on Wednesday 27^th of March and was conducted by Abdellatif Ghedira, executive director of the COI. In addition, Luis Planas, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, attended and supported the trade fair; while he took this opportunity to greet the exhibitors. In the tasting room, EVOOs from the last harvest, selected by the Spanish Ministry for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, were tasted through a culinary demonstration run by Galician Chef Kike Piñeiro.

Morocco was the guest country at the 8^th WOOE, where it participated for the first time ever. This country was represented through the significant presence of Moroccan olive mills, around 400; and a tasting session of Moroccan EVOOs was carried out.

“Desafío WOOE”

One of the novelties of the WOOE was the “Desafío WOOE” (“WOOE Challenge”), a salad competition that sought out the best combination of olive oils from the four different PDOs of Castile-La Mancha. On the days prior to the competition, the participating chefs only possessed the tasting sheet of the different EVOOs and they were only allowed to taste them before the dish decoration. The winner was Manu Urbano with his dish “Remojón andaluz with fresh cod” [a salad based of orange and cod] from Madrid’s restaurant La Malaje. Furthermore, Sally Caballero from Sally’s Cook (Ciudad Real) and Aurora García from Mesón Octavio (Ciudad Real) were awarded runners-up.

 

EVOO from across the globe

The active business promotion for olive oil producers is the fundamental purpose of this event that also unites marketing and packaging companies, supply companies of kitchenware for tastings, household items or parcel services, far-reaching media such as Mercacei and machinery companies and auxiliary industries.

 The Tasting Room and the Olive Oil Bar have once again become a journey across the best olive oils worldwide. Among others, the EVOOs from the following Designations of Origin: P Montes de Toledo, Campo de Calatrava, Montes de Toledo, Alta Alcarria, Baena, Priego de Córdoba, Lucena, Aceite Bajo Aragón, Aceite Sierra del Moncayo, Aragón Organic Production, Montes de Granada and Sierra Mágica participated. Moreover, supported by the IOC, EVOOs from some new countries in the sector —China, Brazil and Croatia— have been tasted.

Program of Conferences

One more year the World Olive Oil Exhibition consolidates its international prestige as a trade fair, but also as an encounter focused on debate, trends and keys that govern the present and those expected in this dynamic market’s immediate future, thanks to a program of tasting sessions and conferences which has already become a not-to-be-missed event for all those interested in the olive oil industry.

Attendees were able to listen major international professionals in olive oil, such as Simon Poole, expert in Mediterranean diet, Joseph Profaci, director of the North American Olive Oil Association (NAOOA), Alexandra Kicenik, co-founder of Extra Virgin Alliance, Johnny Madge, international olive oil taster and expert, Malcolm Gilmour, olive oil importer, José Manuel Bajo Prados, Secretary General of the Baena PDO, Tassos Kyriakides and Vasilis Vasilou, creators of the Institute for Olive Oil (Yale University, USA), Rafael Ansón, President of the Royal Spanish Academy of Gastronomy, Jaime Lillo, deputy director of the IOC, José María Penco, director of the Evooleum competition, or Juan Peñamil, Mercacei’s CEO.