Tunisia: First class organic oils

Germans have always perceived Tunisia first and foremost as a supplier of dates, but in fact this North African country produces a wide range of organic olive oils. Olive plantations account for more than 40 % of organically managed land. With various measures and programmes, the Tunisian government’s aim is to expand cropping and to stimulate exports. Together with American and German buyers and olive oil specialists, Karin Heinze spent a week for our readers looking round olive oil plantations and oil mills. (Picture: Slim Fendri, Domaine Fendri, and Cecilia Muriel, Medolea, sell high-value olive oils)
After Spain, Italy and Greece, Tunisia is the world’s fourth largest producer of organic olive oil (25,000 t in 2009). 56 million olive trees occupy 1.6 million ha, which means that for every Tunisian there are 6 olive trees. About two–thirds of the total annual production of 200,000 t is exported. Many litres of oil are shipped in bulk to other Mediterranean countries, where it is blended, bottled and marketed as, for example, Italian extra virgin olive oil.
(Picture: Olive trees as far as the eye can see: Tunisia has around 56 million)

The Tunisian government intends to change this unsatisfactory state of affairs: premium quality oils will be exported in bottles carrying the brand name of the Tunisian manufacturer in order to increase value added. Organic oils are a major part of the support programme. Whereas Tunisian organic oils are found for example in France, Japan or the USA, they have hardly penetrated the German market at all. Tunisian oil is sold in the wholefood trade only by Naturata and Bioplanète, but this is about to change. It’s not only the specialist trade that is of interest, and Tunisian firms are prepared to sell via all the sales channels from delicatessens, specialist wholefood shops and the conventional trade to gastronomy. (Picture: Olive growing creates jobs: it’s not uncommon for whole families to earn their living on plantations)

Tunisia currently has around 285,000 ha of organically certified land. According to government plans, targeted support should raise this figure to 500,000 ha by 2014, with olives playing a major role. Already over 40 % of organic land is planted with olive trees. 100,000 trees are certified organic by certification organisations like BCS, Ecocert, ICEA or Lacon, and around 115,000 ha of olive plantations (in 2008) are no longer treated with chemical fertilisers and pesticides. According to the firm Packtec, that runs the Tunisian olive oil campaign, 25,000 t of organic olive oil were produced in 2009, of which 10,000 t (9,656 t to be exact) were exported. (Information on organic agriculture can be accessed on the website of the Centre Technique de l’Agriculture Biologique. (Picture: People still rely here on donkeys: a plantation worker transporting pruned branches)

A number of producers with a long tradition like Domaine Fendri (founded in 1911) or Ksar Ezzit have specialised exclusively in organic production, with cultivation on a large scale and the corresponding processing facilities. Together with the oils of smaller producers, you find a whole range of flavours, and the design of packaging is an added appeal. Good examples are Golden Tunisian by Yosra Ben Arab (picture on right), a young olive oil producer who in 2009 won the Packtec award with her brand, and the cooperative Société Agricole Gargouri and the brand Medolea by Cecilia Muriel. This last example has not yet been certified organic and comes from traditional cropping in small plantations that are operated exclusively by women.

The big oil mills are turning, at least in part, to organic - for example, Huilerie Slama, Huilerie Loued and the market leader CHO. They are already producing a large volume of organic olive oil on their own plantations or buying from organic farmers and then carrying out processing.

The aim of a PPP project, with the participation of GTZ (German Technical Cooperation) and six Tunisian oil producers, is to increase the capacity for premium oils and to improve the level of professionalism in agriculture and marketing. The whole endeavour is being supported by the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (AHK) in Tunis, where CIM specialist Elke Peiler thinks there are good prospects of bringing some companies up to scratch so that they will satisfy demanding buyers from abroad. So it’s a question of premium quality and not mass production. (Picture: Traditional stone oil mill in Ksar Ezzit)

“We’d like to make our wonderful Tunisian oils better known abroad,” says Madame Lemia Chekir Thabet, the managing director of Packtec (picture on right). Since 2007, the company has been promoting Tunisian olive oil on behalf of the government. Packtec (Le Centre Technique de L’Emballage et du Conditionnement) advises and researches in the field of packaging and administers the olive oil fund that was initiated in 2007 by the Ministry for Industry and Technology. All olive oil producers pay into the fund in order to guarantee sales promotion. The aim is to open up the markets that, according to market analysts, have the greatest potential, namely Germany, France, Japan and North America. The annual consumption of olive oil in the USA alone is 300,000 t. “The government is backing the project and the campaign and wants to see bottled Tunisian olive oil on sale in Germany, Europe and internationally,” explains Peiler, who is supporting the campaign on behalf of Packtec via the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The campaign “Tunisian olive oil – so healthy, so tasty” focuses attention on quality and brands. Packtec organises an annual olive oil award, participates in specialist trade fairs like Anuga and BioFach, arranges tasting sessions and advises the oil mills and bottling plants on questions of packaging design and quality. Packtec was at BioFach 2010 for the first time with a joint company stand where a number of oil producers presented their products. The first specialist olive oil fair is to be held in Tunis from 8th to 10th June 2010. (Picture: Olive cultivation goes back a thousand years in Tunisia. An oil mill at the excavation site Thuburbo Majus)

The first stop on our excursion from 15th to 20th March was Ksar Ezzit – it means “oil castle” – in the Fkirin mountains to the south west of Tunis. In 2005, the owners Lassad Hassouna and his German wife Victoria acquired 440 ha in the Jougar region, where they added thousands of new olive trees to the already existing stock. Now the Ksar Ezzit plantation consists of 75,000 trees of 12 different kinds. As a result of organic cultivation and traditional cold pressing, they produce fine premium oils under the brand names Jougar and Ksar Ezzit. (Picture: View of the plantation)

The export manager Saoussen Othmani (picture below) explains that around 500 t of the oil certified by Ecocert are already exported to Italy, Serbia, Dubai and the USA. According to the sales manager Karim Kaabar (picture below), the location of the farm at 500 m above sea level is good for organic cultivation, since the olive fly is scarcely found at this altitude. Also, the farm encourages biodiversity, with plenty of cattle, donkeys, mules and all kinds of poultry. They deliberately forego the use of big machines to till the soil. In an historic oil mill, the visitors can see for themselves how the olives are processed into oil, and it is used in the production of oils for export. (Pictures below: Top chefs and historic setting in the restaurant)



The Hassounas, the third generation of oil producers, have not only concentrated since 2005 on high quality oils but have also, with great attention to detail, developed this delightful spot into a location for holidays and relaxation. Scattered across their land, you find seven houses and flats that are individually designed in the style of the seven regions of Tunisia and provide visitors with high-standard accommodation and a guarantee of enjoyment of the rural experience. Contributing to the local flair are two restaurants serving high-quality Tunisian food and olive specialities (pictures below), and a shop selling products of the farm and other attractive items.



The second big organic oil producer is Slim Fendri, that is located in the southern third of Tunisia at roughly the height of the town Sfax. Here the climate is much hotter and drier than in the north, and the trees have to survive with no more than 300 mm of rain a year. However, the old variety Chemleli is well suited to this climate and has a high level of resistance to pests as well. Slim Fendri, whose grandfather began in 1911 on a plot with 300 olive trees, is proud of the fact that he now owns a total of 25,000 trees in different parts of Tunisia. Many of them are ancient trees (picture), including one a thousand years old. As the soil level has risen over the centuries, they now form a picturesque group in the middle of the plantation.

Slim Fendri (picture), having started to convert to organic in 1994, had his trees certified by Ecocert in 1996 and began to export in 1997. The olives are harvested by hand and produce a mild, fruity oil that is marketed under the brand Fendri. They produce 150 – 200 t of extra virgin olive oil, which is about a fifth of the total harvest. “Olives are our passion and we want top quality,” says Slim Fendri. “We’re not concerned with quantity but with premium oils.” Potential sales channels are gourmet gastronomy and delicatessen shops – the marketing structures should not be too big, says the entrepreneur who is planning to plant another 10,000 trees to increase his volume. Fendri works closely with the olive oil institute in Sfax, and he is also involved in the above-mentioned PPP project in collaboration with Madame Faiza Gargori (picture), Yosra Ben Arab and other olive oil companies.

The market leader in Tunisia is CHO (Conditionnement des Huiles d’Olive). The company near Sfax has an annual turnover of approximately 100 million US dollars, with organic olive oil accounting for about 12 million dollars. CHO is certified organic in compliance with the standards of the EU, USDA (USA) and JAS (Japan). It exports its oils (including organic) to France, Russia, Japan, China, Taiwan, Canada and the USA. The company’s high level of professionalism is demonstrated by its separate production processes (specific filters and tanks), ISO 9001 certification, kosher oil, TÜV standard and its own laboratory. The olives, the majority of which are bought in, are processed by both cold and hot pressing and with the use of chemical extraction. The total production capacity is 35,000 t and the storage capacity is 18,000 t. Another arm of the firm is re-processing industrial oils and cooking oils. It also supplies oils to the cosmetics industry. The company was founded in 1996. (Picture: View of the company building)

In the edible oils segment CEO Abdelaziz Makhloufi would like to focus much more on the Gulf States, but in particular on the European market. He gives Metro as an example of a possible trading partner. He says they are already successfully collaborating with Carrefour. With the production of 12,000 bottles an hour, large-scale marketing structures are clearly called for. The company’s mission is the sale of its own brands Terra Delyssa and Olivolio among others, and bottling for private labels. Although CHO buys in most of its olives, it also owns conventional and organic plantations. Makhloufi estimates the price difference between organic and comparable conventional extra virgin quality is 25-30 %.
(Picture: Abdeaziz Makhloufi, managing director of CHO, wants to expand the organic line)

Another major producer in the olive oil industry is Huilerie Slama near Kairouan in central Tunisia. Olive trees of the varieties Chemalali, Chetoui, Oueslati and Koroneiki are grown on over 1,100 ha on the plantation in Haffouz. Slama owns a total of 3,000 ha and in 2009 it produced 1,200 t of oil. Exported in bulk and bottles/canisters, the oil went to its main customers Russia, Great Britain, the Gulf States, the USA, Libya and Jordan. The export manager Malek Ben Slima now wants to exploit the market in Canada and Germany, and intensify his efforts in the American market. Organic is an important issue for Slama too and, as the deputy managing director Chiheb Slama (picture) explains, they are planning to plant 100 ha. (Picture on left: The companies fulfil their social responsibility: they provide employment beyond harvest time, support education and deliver medical services)

Huilerie Loued produces conventional oils under the brand Rivière d’Or and an organic line under the same brand but specifically labelled organic. The olives come from contract farmers. The company presses only extra virgin oil, and its total annual capacity is around 4,000 t. Loued was represented at the last BioFach and took good contacts back to Tunisia, explains Haifa Khedher from the sales and marketing department (picture below, third from left). She deals with more than 20 countries all over the world where Loued is already sending its exports. New items in its product range are naturally flavoured organic oils (lemon, garlic and herbs). (Pictures below: Huilerie Loued’s team and products)



The first international olive oil fair (8 – 10. 6. 2010 in the Expo Center Médina in Yasmine Hammamet) highlights the fact that olive oil constitutes 40 % of Tunisia’s exports in the food sector. Madame Lamia Thabet (the managing director of Packtec) and Zakaria Hamad (in charge of the food industry in the Ministry for Industry and Technology) are agreed that the importance of olive oil has never been adequately represented. So the time is ripe for their own fair which, in the view of Thabet, will supplement the advertising campaign optimally. In fact, the campaign is already bearing the first fruit, and Tunisian olive oil is well on the way to conquering markets worldwide. Currently, about 5,600 t of olive oil in bottles are sold, and the target for 2010 is 9,000 t. (Picture on right: Organic oils on the shelves at Carrefour in Tunis)

Organic olive oil is still hardly available on the domestic market, with only a few oils being sold by Carrefour in Tunis. This situation could, however, soon change with the fair, the continuing advertising campaign and the PPP project. Ksar Ezzit is at least drawing attention to itself in the magazine of Tunisair. Also, TV chef Rafik Tlatli (on the left in the picture with the head of Loued), who accompanied the group on their trip to the olive oil producers, kept offering quality oils for everybody to taste. Chefs in the restaurants we visited should certainly have been convinced.