A Study On The Olive Oil Market In China

Olive is one of the major agricultural products of the Mediterranean region so that 90% of the worldwide olive cultivation is made in Mediterranean basin. With fertile soils, suitable climate and years of experience; Spain, Italy, Greece, Tunisia, Syria and Turkey are the leading cultivators of olive in the world. With regard to small changes over the years, European countries hold the 70% of the world olive cultivation. Spain holds 60% of the production within European countries, followed by Italy and Greece.In the case of olive oil industry, China has the fastest growing olive oil industry in the world. Considering the population, China will become the biggest market for that industry in the following years. As Chinese customers have a limited knowledge about the quality of a brand or olive oil in general, they are driven to the brands for two reasons; price and familiarity of the brand. As Turkey is one of the major olive oil exporters in the world, Turkish brands are trying to enter the Chinese market as well as the others.This paper aims to help Turkish entrepreneurs in olive oil industry to enter Chinese market by analysing the reasons behind why Turkey is falling behind. In order to support my ideas, I will firstly examine the Chinese edible oil and olive oil market to show the annual growth of the industry and need for new brands. Secondly, I will examine the Turkish olive oil market and its share to demonstrate where it stands. After supporting my hypothesis by comparative advantage theory of why Turkey can do better in Chinese market, I will examine Spain as the case study to further understand how to succeed in Chinese market. I will be concluding my paper with pointing out the major problems in Turkish olive oil industry and suggesting solutions for entrepreneurs.