The Chinese and Japanese extra-virgin olive oil producers beating Italians and Spanish at their own game

Production of top-quality olive oil in western China has risen rapidly, with some oils winning international awards, and it finds a ready market at home

In Japan, where the first olive trees were planted a century ago, there are more small-scale producers than in China, and a network of olive oil sommeliers

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Asia’s love for Evoo shows no sign of slowing down, with producers like the Xiangyu Olive Development Co making oil on par or better than their Mediterranean counterparts. Photo: Xiangyu Olive Development Co

Published: 12:37pm, 27 May 2021Updated: 5:09pm, 28 May 2021

Top-quality extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) evokes images of sunny Mediterranean countries such as Spain, Greece and Italy – places where olive trees have been grown for millennia for their precious essence.

However, thanks to a number of Chinese and Japanese producers who are making olive oil whose quality is on par with or better than that of their Italian and Spanish counterparts, t his picture is changing .

EVOO does not tend to rank highly in Asian diets, where soy sauce and sesame oil rule on the table, but – thanks to a growing awareness of healthy eating styles and the popularity of the Western-style diet – its popularity is increasing rapidly in China and Japan.

According to Zhang Zhengwu, deputy director at the Longnan Economic Forestry Research Institute in Gansu province, northwest China, the production of Chinese olive oil, though of a high quality, is small, accounting for only about 8 per cent of China’s consumption and 0.2 per cent of international olive oil production.

The Xiangyu Olive Development Co olive estate in Gansu, northwest China. Photo: Xiangyu Olive Development Co

The country imports roughly 40,000 tonnes of olive oil per year – mostly from Italy and Spain, where it also sourced its first olive trees. As a result, Chinese olive groves are dominated by Italian and Spanish olive varieties such as coratina, leccino and picholine.

China has discovered that it is capable of making a high-quality olive oil product. “The industry’s development speed is very fast,” says Zhang. Over 500 firms are making 5,000-6,000 tonnes of Chinese olive oil annually – mostly in Gansu, with some in Sichuan and Yunnan in the country’s southwest.