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Savantes is a unique opportunity to taste some of the best extra virgin olive oils in the world, learn about current markets and trends and establish international networks. Savantes will be held in Sevilla, Spain on 20-22 May and in Modena, Italy on 27-29 May 2008.

There are many questions confronting olive oil users, and marketing and production enterprises, in 2008. There are also new demands on chefs to use healthier oils such as extra virgin olive oil and be innovative with menus.

This is all creating an environment where knowledge about the product, extra virgin olive oil, is even more important.

Think about how you can differentiate your product, be it olive oil or a menu, to take advantage of, or deal with, the following issues:

• New styles of oils coming on to the market, different tastes and health characteristics
• Increasing sophistication of processing to produce unique tastes in a highly competitive market
• The impact on prices of the falling US$ on exports of olive oil to the world’s biggest market – the USA
• How using vegetable oils for biofuel will affect demand and prices
• Will genetic engineering of other vegetable oils give them a chemical profile as healthy as olive oil?
• Is climate change opening up new areas of production, such as Southern England?
• Is Southern Hemisphere production starting to have a significant impact on world supply?
• What will be the effect of the possible world economic slowdown on sales?
• Are the Asian markets accessible and using more olive oil and what is the preferred style?

Participants are coming from South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Europe to participate in the three day Savantes programmes which presents a wide range of olive oils and opinions on market and culinary topics. We may not fully answer all the questions but will help equip you to deal with them.

We are delighted to announce that international brand marketer Jean-Bernard Chomarat of MedInternational SA will be presenting the Market and Retail Update in Sevilla.

The program is presented in English.

Some places still available

There are limited places available at both venues, both for the three-day course and for trained taster’s who can attend the final day for a ‘refresher’. For bookings go to our website details of the programme, a brochure and bookings are available at http://www.savantes.com/savantes

Competition winning olive oils

Competition winning olive oils are being couriered from all over the world to be presented by leading taster Judy Ridgway and others. So you will know the standard the market expects.

Has your extra virgin olive oil won a national or international award during the 2007/2008 season? If so we would like to hear about it with a view to including it in the Savantes programmes in Spain and Italy in May. Please send us an email with awards listed and .pdf files of the award certificates. We will select oils from each country and then ask for samples of those selected.

Healthier Extra Virgin Olive Oils

A new element of some oils selected is the ‘health’ profile which is being used to differentiate winning extra virgin olive oils in competitions. With health becoming more of an issue how does your product stack up?