“Italy is losing the oil challenge: Spain produces 4 to 6 times more than us, and despite having fewer varieties it has also reached an excellent level of quality”. To sound the alarm is Zefferino Monini, 52-year-old president and CEO of the family business of the same name founded in Spoleto in 1920 by his grandfather, pioneer of extra virgin olive oil quality in Italy and now in its third generation. A rarity in itself, considering that in Central Italy only 15% of family businesses resist for so long (and only 3-4% reach the fourth generation), and even more if to safeguard the identity of the brand and 110 jobs in Italy is facing the most complicated challenges, starting with the crisis which, in 2013, caused the market to drop by 10%.
In his own way, the heir to the Umbrian dynasty has safeguarded Made in Italy, even if most of the oil packaged by Monini (and in Italy in general) comes from abroad (mainly from its competitor Spain) and even if from some year most of its own production comes from an Australian olive grower. “Spain is by now clearly the first producer in the world with 65% of the quota – explains Monini – e Italy, also thanks to an adverse climatic season, will slip this year into fourth position also behind Greece and Tunisia. In many markets they have overtaken us, such as the Russian one where Monini is the first Italian brand for oil but only the third overall, behind two Spaniards. Paradoxically, despite having the tradition and the best varieties thanks to the unique characteristics of our territories, in Italy we produce less oil than we import: out of a total of 9 million quintals placed on the market, 5 arrive from abroad".
Monini, which in 2013 had a turnover of 125 million euros, arriving in 58 countries worldwide (the main market is Russia but there is also an oil mill in the United States and a strong commercial presence in Poland and Switzerland), is the example: of the 27,3 million liters of oil produced last year (85% of which extra virgin), only 1,5% came from olives harvested in Italy, in the historic hills around Spoleto or in the Apulian detachment. The rest is imported or made in Australia, where 700 thousand Italian plants have been transplanted in an area of 106 hectares in New South Wales and where each tree yields 45 kg of olives compared to 12-15 kg of those from Umbria. “We didn't go to Australia for the cost of labour, which is in fact similar to the European one, but because the inverted season allows us to carry out two production cycles a year, and because the characteristics of the land allow for the growth of more robust trees and therefore more productive than those that grow on the hillsides, which however guarantee superior variety and quality”.
The first theme is therefore that of productivity. “In Australia we use modern olive growing, which does not exist in Italy yet and which is the same as that used in Spain: more automated, faster and which requires less manpower. Result: while we still shake the trees practically manually, the cost of 1 liter of oil in Spain (labour is the first item in costs, ed) is 1,8 euros. In Puglia we are around 3 euros, here in Spoleto even around 6-8 euros”. More competitiveness, therefore, and not even at the expense of quality. “One of the central themes is that Italy produces less but it doesn't even represent the only excellence anymore: our brands still enjoy great prestige, but Spain now has excellent qualities and realities such as Portugal, Argentina and Turkey are also growing. Also because the faster the harvest, the better the quality”.
This is why, given that the Eastern European market is currently the main outlet, the Russian embargo risks becoming a curse. “If our products disappear from the shelves, they will have a hard time returning: because consumers will buy Turkish or North African oil (especially Morocco and Tunisia) and will notice very few differences after all”. But when did Italy lose the challenge of competitiveness? “Now the Ministry of Agriculture is not listening to us, but the roots of the problem are in the 80s, when after the boom that allowed us to reach 1981 billion lire in turnover in 60, competition from low-cost oils imported from the United States forced the European Community to disburse rain aids to agriculture: while Spain has used them to invest and modernize olive growing, in Italy many have been clever, especially in the Centre-South, taking advantage of them almost only to cut costs and penalize medium-high target markets like ours”.
Yet Zefferino Monini who still, in the wake of the tradition inaugurated almost a hundred years ago by his homonymous grandfather, personally tastes and selects the oil with his collaborators, does not give up. “We have to grow abroad because at the moment only 30% of our production is sold outside Italy – explains the CEO of the brand, however present in the five continents -. Which markets to focus on more? Always Eastern Europe and Switzerland, where we are already leaders, but we can't forget China, even if we have very little market there. In the USA, where we have Monini North America with a turnover of 6 million dollars, it is instead more difficult because the low-cost logic is very strong, which we do not follow”.
The goal is yes to grow, but maintaining its identity and bringing the company to that fourth generation which would mean quality, history and somehow Italian spirit. “The crisis of the 80s led us to sell 35% of the stake to Star, and at the beginning of the 2000s we also risked losing control, because the Fossati family through Marco (current shareholder of Telecom Italia, ed) had great internationalization ambitions and had made us an offer. My sister Maria Flora and I opposed it and bought back 100% of the shares: perhaps we would actually have grown more, but the brand would no longer be Italian. So much so that today Star is Spanish while we, albeit with difficulty, still work in Italy”.
