Import boom amid growing taste for high quality

Chinese consumers are becoming more quality-conscious and that is leading to a boom here in olive oil sales, according to an industry leader.

Massimo Gargano, president of Europe's largest consortium of olive growers, says: "During the 1990s the export of olive oil to China was almost non-existent but by last year Italy held 30 percent of the $32 million Chinese olive oil market."

By late September this year, 2008 sales of Italian olive oil in China were already 83 percent up on the same period last year.