In a world of increasingly heart conscious consumers the consumption of olive oil doubled between 1990 and 2000 and according to authorities will likely have doubled again by 2020. Ninety-five percent of olive oil comes from the countries bordering the Mediterranean with Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Greece being the leading produces. Because of the expected increase in consumption many believe that the major producers will just not be able to keep up with demand. There lies the opportunity for investing in olive oil.

An investor can certainly go into the business of growing olives. If he or she had an agriculture degree or, better, comes from a family with generations of experience in tending olive orchards and making oil, they may be set. However, the investor will need to find land at a reasonable price where soil conditions and climate are conducive to producing high quality olives and oil. On the other hand the investor can find an investment opportunity related to olive production. That is what this is about.

There is a company in Spain. (Spain is the world’s number one olive oil producer.) This company will work through a subsidiary in Algeria on the other side of the Mediterranean Sea to grow olives. The Algerian government is promoting a project to plant a million hectares (2.5 million acres) with olive trees for production as the fruit and for olive oil. Through its subsidiary the company will plant 1,500 hectares as an olive orchard. The company will devote 500 hectares to private investment.

Without having to till the soil, plant trees, harvest olives, grind into paste, process the paste into oil or in any way get their hands dirty an investor can profit from this endeavor. The company will be building its own modern processing plant and will have an operation that takes the olive through to the production of high quality oil from the Arbequinia olive. The potential investor would need to contact the managing representative of this project  for details. However, the investment comes down to this. After investing in the project the investor will receive interest as well as a payment of $2 per liter of oil produced for one hectare of olives. The Arbequinia olive can produce 20 liters of oil per 100 kilos of olives and is a strong producer. The investment will run for ten years and the last payment will include interest, profit on olive oil produced, and the initial investment amount.

This sort of investment is backed up by land, the olive trees, and a processing plant. Olive trees live for a long, long time. (Olive trees 2,000 years old exist around the Mediterranean.) Thus, there is a security in investing in olive trees and olive oil production. With the steadily increasing demand for olive oil this is likely to be a profitable venture far into the future. The principals in this investment estimate that investors will double their money over the ten years of the investment. With this sort of innovative thinking the company will attract those interested in both green and socially conscious investments to a project to meet a public need and grow profits as well.

http://www.userbancorp.com

An offshore formations and banking specialist working for several companies regarding offshore structures, formation of companies, foundations, banks and financial institutions in several jurisdictions, including provision of government issued financial licenses. Working for User Bancorp Ltd, which is providing private and corporate accounts, merchant accounts, offshore companies such as Belize IBC’s (International Business Company), Panama corporations and foundations, wire transfer services, managed funds/Forex, credit- debit- and prepaid card issuing.

We also offer co-ownership and shares in different investment programs such as real estate investment in profitable jurizdictions like Panama, Belize and Spain. Certificate of Deposit/Term Deposit accounts available up to 9 % p.a.

Contact me on e-mail: geir.holstad@userbancorp.com

Jack Dougherty of Bella Vista Ranch knows olives.

It was olives that bridged the gap between the high tech haven of Palo Alto and the Texas Hill Country heaven of Wimberley for Jack Dougherty. Mr. Dougherty had a distinguished career in the high tech industry and at one point supervised well over 1,000 employees. But his heart was always in the fruit groves and nut bearing groves near his boyhood Palo Alto home.

In Jack’s case, it seems you just can’t take the country out of the boy and he made his way to Texas and Wimberley as soon as he could. He still travels the world in search of information and technology, and techniques on olives, but his home and his heart are now at Bella Vista Ranch near Wimberley, Texas.

We took a tour of Bella Vista Ranch a few weeks ago and sat in amazement as he explained the story of olives to us and a few others gathered under some live oak trees sitting on picnic tables right smack in the middle of one of the premier olive groves in Texas and the USA. We had no idea we had stumbled upon one of the premier experts of the olive world right there in Wimberley.

As he told the history of olives, he related that the first person who ever tasted an olive was probably not impressed. Raw olives contain an alkaloid that makes them very bitter and unedible. Some ancient civilization discovered that soaking them in brine removes the bad taste.

Olives have been around for centuries, but until recently they were just a condiment you served with your meals or at a party as an appetizer. It was in the 1990′s that health organizations took notice of the health benefits, specifically our heart health. With this discovery, new diets emerged using Olive Oil in their recipes.

Olive farming originated in the Mediterranean, but as the economy changed so did the use of the land that olives were grown. In the United States, California is our major grower of both green and black olives, but due to the high prices of land, the olive growing is also shrinking. So now Olive farmers are looking for less expensive land to grow olives to produce the olive oil to meet the increasing demand.

It is apparent that Mr. Dougherty has spent a lot of time researching olives. There is a report written by George Ray McEachern and Larry A. Stein, Extension Horticulturists from Texas A & M University titled ‘Growing Olives in Texas Gardens’, where they talk about growing Olives in Texas. They talk about where the climate is good in Texas, and all about what olive trees need to survive. They limited the areas to East, Central, and South Texas. But that was about it. Mr. Dougherty kept on with his research and settled in on the Wimberley area as being ideal. He did have some concerns about the weather, but the soil conditions seemed to be similar to ideal olive growing locations in other parts of the world. Not too many olives are grown in Texas north of San Antonio.

The Bella Vista Ranch fits all the criteria for being able to grow olives. The soil has a lot of caliche which makes for great drainage and the temperature doesn’t dip to freezing very often or for long periods of time. There are over 1,000 Olive trees on the ranch today.

There are 16 different varieties of olive trees grown at the grove, with the California Mission Olive as the tree of choice which is primarily grown at the Bella Vista Ranch.

Here are a few things we learned about olives and olive production in Texas. Olive trees were brought to the New World by the Spanish. They first arrived in Mexico and then made their way from there to California with missionaries where the trees were first planted in 1769. The olive trees were known as Mission olives because they were grown in olive groves near the missions. This variety no longer exists in Spain, but is popular in California and Texas. Using Mission Olives gives Olive Oil a very long shelf life.

The weather has not always cooperated with the Bella Vista Ranch olive trees. In fact a late freeze almost put the Olive ranch out of business. They had to cut back and replace almost all their olive trees. Other concerns were that Olives are an alternating fruit producer, meaning that some years there are more olives produced than others, and you have to hand pick the olives and pruning is very important. Olive trees grow very rapidly and if the tree grows out of control, the nutrients are used by the tree for the growth and not the fruit. The Olive trees need to be kept pruned.

The Olive tree produces fruit in a fascinating way, the blooms create the olive cluster, then only 1 or 2 olives that are the strongest continue to grow and hang from the tree. They go through a color change from green to red, Jack can look at the tree and decide from the texture of the skin and the color when it’s time to pick the entire tree. The olives gathered from each tree will be a combination of olives from green to red and even dark red. With all the different stages of ripened olives, when pressed together should make a very flavorful olive oil.

When harvesting the olives, since they have to be hand picked, they will start at the bottom of the tree and pick as high as they can reach. Then they will use ladders to pick more. The last step they will use is to lay out tarps or nets at the bottom of the tree and use a device that looks like a little rake to comb through the tree and when the olives fall to the ground, they are gathered in the tarps.

They will start producing a decent crop when the tree is usually 4 to 10 years old, and each tree can produce up to a couple hundred pounds of olives in a good year. Since they are alternate bearing, one year you can get the maximum pounds and then the next get just a few pounds. There is no way to know which year a tree will be a good producer. Pruning could be the key to producing more olives.

As was explained to us, the first person who ever tasted an olive was probably not impressed. Raw olives contain an alkaloid that makes them very bitter and unedible. Some ancient civilization discovered that soaking them in brine removes the bad taste. In the Frantoio room where the olives are pressed into olive oil, there is a centrifuge method called ‘Cold Pressing’ from the time the olives are harvested to the time the olive oil is bottled, the olives will never go past a certain temperature. Heat and light along with oxygen will cause a chemical change, and will effect the flavor of the olive oil.

Olive experts such as Jack Dougherty strictly adhere to best practices in processing to obtain the very finest olive oil available.

First the olives go through a deleafer. This process removes the leaves and branches from the olives. Then the whole olive including the pit goes through a mill which purees the olives into a paste texture. Then with a centrifuge process, with controlled time and room temperatures, the oil will separate. It will then go through a higher speed centrifuge process to gather even more oil. instead of being wasted, the remainings of the olives are fed to the cattle which are also raised on the ranch. After the cattle are finished eating what they can, they sometimes roll around in the remains on the ground and this possibly acts as a natural insect repellent. I bet it’s great for their coats!

You don’t want to taste the olive oil right after it’s made because it will burn your mouth. The olives produce the same ingredient, called Capsaicin, that makes a Jalapeño pepper burn your mouth. A good quality olive oil has this flavor and you can tell by the more heat in the flavor how close to production it was. It takes about 60 days for the pepper flavor to cool down and then is bottled. Olive oil should be stored at room temperature in a dark cool cabinet.

We went to the tasting room, and like wine you will want to experience an olive oil tasting. You look for some of the same characteristics: Look for a halo at the top of the olive oil, it should have a clear halo without any color. If it’s not clear or has a color to it, then it may not taste very good because it has probably been exposed to oxygen for a period of time. Take a sniff of the olive oil. It should have a clean grassy aroma, it should not smell like cooking oil. Then you want to taste the olive oil. You should experience a clean herbaceous, peppery flavor with just a little heat as it goes down the back of your throat. Fresh olive oil has an exceedingly fresh and non oily taste.

Enjoy the interview video I did with Jack. He’s very informative and will let you know where Bella Vista Ranch is located. http://ramonasbasilgarden.com/2010/12/13/bella-vista-ranch/

Ramona Werst will teach you to ‘Love Your Basil’ while she shares with you tips and secrets to Grow, Care For, and Cook With Fresh Basil. Become a Basil Fan at http://bit.ly/BasilFanPage

A unique investment opportunity exists in the production, distribution, and sale of olive oil. Worldwide demand is growing and the supply chain needed to provide high quality oil to the world is in the process of being expanded and improved. There are a number of offshore investment opportunities related to this increase in demand. We look at a specific example of how an investor can become a part of and profit from the response to increasing demand.

The Oil of the Olive

Olive oil is a staple of the Mediterranean diet and has been for thousands of years. It is used in many recipes and is popular on tables and in kitchens across the globe as well as in the Mediterranean Basin. Its popularity has grown and, especially, because of the heart healthy effects of the oil is becoming more popular world wide.

According to the UNCTAD commodities web site page on this oil, it refers exclusively to oil obtained from the fruit of the olive tree and excludes all other oils obtained by using solvents or re-esterification. The term virgin oil only applies to oil produced in a mechanical process and at lower temperatures so as not to damage the oil. Refined oil refers to processed oil that still has the “triglyceric” structure of olive oil. If something else is mixed with the oil it is not marketed as suchl. This last fact is specifically different from many cooking oils which will list a number of possible ingredients such as palm, soy, or corn oil, etc.

This oil has a unique taste and is definitely the preferred oil for Mediterranean style cooking. Because of its unique structure it is the preferred cooking oil for heart healthy diets.

Olive Oil Consumption

The countries around the Mediterranean Basin account for roughly 77% of worldwide consumption. However, this figure is changing. Because the oil is an integral part of the Mediterranean diet it has little room to expand. Because the oil is just entering international markets it has a lot of room to go. According to recent figures the top five consuming nations are as follows:

Italy: 30%
Spain: 20%
Greece: 9%
USA: 8%
France: 4%

Countries that don’t rank very high on the list, like Japan, have just caught on to olive oil and are showing exponential growth in consumption.

Olive Oil Production

Olive oil is not just a historic product of the Mediterranean. Roughly ninety-five percent on olive oil is produced in countries bordering on the Mediterranean Sea. Ninety percent of production comes from the top six producers, Spain, Italy, Greece, Tunisia, Turkey, Syria, and Morocco. Portugal comes in 7th with 1% of worldwide production even though it only borders on the Atlantic Ocean (as well as Spain).

As consumption has grown over the years it is highly doubtful that these countries can cope with the increasing demand. For example, reliable figures say that 60% of cultivatable land in Greece is planted in olive orchards. There is just not a lot of room to expand production on the North Side of the Mediterranean.

Production and consumption grew together through the 1970’s to mid 1990’s when production tailed off. However, demand for olive oil has continued to grow. Reliable figures and estimates are that olive oil consumption doubled between 1990 and 2000 and will have tripled again by 2020.

The place where the weather is still “Mediterranean” and the soil conditions suitable for growing olives is the North African coast of the Mediterranean. Here is where countries like Algeria and Morocco are catching up with Tunisia with the intent of becoming major olive oil producers and exporters. Algeria is promoting a huge olive tree planting project making available a million hectares (2.5 million acres) of land for orchards.

Investing in Olive Oil

Olive oil investments are not always easy to get into. Production is highly fragmented with orchards historically owned and tended on small properties by families for generations. Refining is more concentrated. For example, in Spain in 1995 there were 80 refining companies including cooperatives. In the major producing countries the market is very competitive and there are typically substantial barriers barring the entry of newcomers.

Due to the expansion of olive production into the North African portion of the Mediterranean Basin here is where more investment opportunity lies. Countries like Algeria are welcoming and inviting investment. An example follows.

A Specific Investment

A Spanish company with an Algerian subsidiary is investing in olive trees in Algeria. It plans to plant 1,500 hectares of which 500 hectares (1,250 acres or roughly two square miles) will be open to private investment.

The company will plant the Arbequinia olive on this land. This olive is fast maturing so that it starts to produce after three years. It is very cold and drought tolerant, and, important for the investor, can be planted in a hyper intensive culture. What this means is that the Arbequinia olive can be planted 1,780 to a hectare. With this level of planting the Arbequinia will produce roughly 11,000 kilo of small brown olives per hectare. Because this olive routinely produces 19% weight per volume of oil it will produce about 2,000 liters of oil per hectare. This fact is useful for investors as return on investment after three years includes payment of $2 per liter of oil produced.

Because the company intends to export high quality olive oil will build its own processing plant in order to insure prompt and professional processing of the Arbequinia olive for export.

Considering the increasing demand for good quality olive oil and the difficulty in investing in the Northern Mediterranean an excellent opportunity may well to invest in a project such as that of this company on the South side of the Mediterranean Sea.

http://www.userbancorp.com

An offshore formations and banking specialist working for several companies regarding offshore structures, formation of companies, foundations, banks and financial institutions in several jurisdictions, including provision of government issued financial licenses.

Working for User Bancorp Ltd, which is providing private and corporate accounts, merchant accounts, offshore companies such as Belize IBC’s (International Business Company), Panama corporations and foundations, wire transfer services, managed funds/forex, credit- debit- and prepaid card issuing.

We also offer co-ownership and shares in different investment programs such as real estate investment in profitable jurizdictions like Panama, Belize and Spain.

Certificate of Deposit/Term Deposit accounts available up to 9 % p.a.

Contact me on e-mail: geir.holstad@userbancorp.com