The centre for the study and promotion of olive oil produced in Portugal’s Alentejo region (CEPAAL) announced that it has invested €265,000 in the last three years in promoting the product in six countries.


In a statement sent to the Lusa agency, CEPAAL said that, as part of the internationalisation project “Promotion of Alentejo Olive Oil in Foreign Markets”, between September 2016 and this month, €265,000 has been invested in promotion initiatives in strategic export markets of Germany, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, the United States of America and Sweden.


CEPAAL indicates that the project, which was co-financed by the Regional Operational Programme “Alentejo 2020” and had a total budget of €320,682, has now ended.


According to the president of CEPAAL, Gonçalo Morais Tristão, the centre “successfully promoted Alentejo olive oil in strategic markets and in a very efficient manner”, as it carried out all the planned promotions and finished under budget”.


“We can’t therefore be prouder of these results. We have made Alentejo olive oil known, as a collective brand, in markets that we believe are gaining great appetite for this Mediterranean product”.


He reinforces the fact that “the CEPAAL members have accelerated their exports” during the period in which the project took place.
CEPAAL and its 30 producers’ olive oil were present in “major international fairs”, such as the “Green Week” in Berlin, Germany, and the “Summer Fancy Food Show” in New York, in the United States of America.


As part of the project, Alentejo olive oil “travelled aboard on hundreds of TAP flights” and CEPAAL also held product tasting events in gourmet shops and technical events and tastings for professionals in the sector.


During the three years, CEPAAL received around 30 international opinion makers, including restaurant chefs, some with Michelin stars, sommeliers, olive oil tasters, gastronomy critics, journalists and distributors, who visited the Alentejo to learn about olive oil, the producers and the region’s gastronomy, which produces 76 percent of Portuguese olive oil.