ZZTK, committee for the promotion of olive and olive oil, participated in Private Label Manufacturers Association Fair held in Chicago, 16 – 18 November 2015, to introduce Turkish products.
Chairman of the committee, Kadri Gundes said, “The USA is one of our target markets. Last year we also participated in Fancy Food Fair held in New York. Chicago is the 5th largest city in the US and producing 650 billion dollars of domestic products and imports about 120 billion dollars worth of goods annually. There were professionals and visitors from South Africa, China, Saudi Arabia, Iran and some other countries who were also interested in our stand.” At the seminar held on the first day of event, ZZTK distributed promotional olive oils in 50ml bottles. He said, “Long term contracts and uninterrupted delivery are important for brands. In order to increase production in Turkey, at least half of the 80 million wild olive trees should be grafted. We have made a project for this. We will organize taste tests next year in this fair.” Turkish producers exported 26 thousand tons of olive oil earning 93 million dollars. Share of exports to USA were the highest that totals 4.2 thousand tons and 15.7 million dollars. Tabletop olive exports to this market was 5.7 million dollars and 3.2 million dollars for green olives.
