Abstract
For many years, the olive oil producer market has been dominated by three European countries: Spain, Italy and Greece, which account 97 per cent of the European production and 77 per cent of the world production. These three European countries are followed by African countries such as Tunisia, and Asian countries. The big fight between Italy and Spain has conducted the International Olive Oil Council (CIO), the European Union (EU) and the World trade organization (WTO) to introduce rules and laws in order to regulate and control the olive oil trade over the world. This has helped countries such as Argentina and Australia, to develop their own production of olive oil but also countries such as USA and Japan to increase their consumption rate of olive oil. The olive oil industry became more competitive and the new entrants are now threatening the leading position of the three European countries. (Case study, 2007)
