In the debate that Olive News hosted on the price of olives in view of the next campaign, intervenes Gennaro Sicolo, in his dual role as president of Italia Olivicola and president of Cia Puglia.
“Precisely in Puglia – highlights Sicolo – the cooperatives and consortia that unite the olive growers are fundamental, also and above all in this historical moment, to truly enhance the excellence of the Apulian olives and the extra virgin olive oil which derives quality and organoleptic properties from them and excellent level of nutrients. Cooperative e consortia do not sell out, but they enhance our product. THE oil millers must address the price issue from a cooperation system perspective: selling off would not solve the problem, on the contrary it would make it more serious, because in the medium and long term there would also be a devaluation and impoverishment of the work of the oil mills. The system of cooperatives and olive-growing consortia has given the Frantoiani Association wide availability for methods of purchasing olives that make the delivery of the product more sustainable. Let's work together, selfishness within the supply chain has already created disasters, it's time to face the market by educating consumers to buy extra virgin olive oil at a price that reflects quality and healthiness and is profitable for both olive growers and millers" .
Sicolo also refers to the statements of Stefano Caroli, president of the Association of Oil Mill Workers of Puglia released to Olivo News.
“There is talk of prices that are too high for oil mill workers – continues Sicolo – and of the fact that, for the current olive growing campaign, the cooperatives of olive producers could be forced to sell off. In my opinion, posing the question in this way is not only wrong, but it is also harmful, as well as disrespectful towards cooperatives and consortia. I repeat: on the part of the cooperative system and the consortia there is maximum availability towards the mill workers, the two components must go together, it is necessary to overcome the logic of the shop and watertight compartments, and we must do so by sitting down together to implement advanced solutions where we win together and the sector, as a whole, can handle the epochal challenges that the market is imposing. There are no alternatives to this way of acting: either we win together or we disappear under the blows of national, European and non-European olive growing systems. Puglia and Italy must get out of the corner into which they would like to be pushed, but to do this, it is necessary to unite all the interconnections of the olive and oil system, do the work that our country has done on wine, for example, where the message on quality has been perceived by consumers who are now educated to a rewarding evaluation of excellence".
