Marcelo Scofano, from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Expert in Olive Oil and organiser from the Brazilian International competition was the guest of the Olive Tree Festival held in the city of Sfax (Tunisia) in its 2nd edition (January 26- 30, 2018) on the theme: “Olive tree, light and roots,”
In an exclusive interview with TunisianMonitorOnline, Marcelo Scofano said that during the meeting at Cepex Tunísia, the talks turned on ways to establish commercial bridges between Tunisia and Brazil. The steps will be implemented by the visit of a small group of Brazilian’s food quality distributors to explore the Tunisian olive oil to be followed by many others commercial actions.
TunisianMonitorOnline: As a guest of the Sfax Olive Tree Festival what was your contribution to the event, do you think the festival can be a good opportunity to attract foreign markets?
Marcelo Scofano : As a culinary teacher and chef, specialist in olive oil, working for distributors and Brazilian olive oil producers, my contribution in the event, was basically to present the potential of Brazilian market and all the educational actions that I have been doing in Rio de Janeiro and many others capitals in the country. We have a rich culinary in Brazil, the combination of which with the new extra virgin olive oils (produced in the last years in the world) is more than perfect. As showed in my presentation in Sfax, the consumption here has grown 400% in the last ten years, but individually, Brazilians consume an average of only 350 ml/year, which appoints for a huge potential.
The festival is a good opportunity to attract foreign markets. Besides the extraordinary quality of EVO OLIVKO, I didn’t know any other brand with such quality level and I could realize that Tunisia can be a producer country not only for volume but also for quality.
TunisianMonitorOnline: As an expert in Olive oil and organiser of Brazil international competition, do you think that the Tunisian olive oil will have a big and profitable place in the international market in general and the Brazilian market in particular?
Marcelo Scofano : First of all, I have to correct the information that I’m the organiser from the Brazilian International competition. I have idealised a project that, until this moment, has not been realised. The project had been the support of the Ministry of Agriculture, but due to our political and economic crisis since 2016, I’m waiting for better conditions and looking for governmental support. Until our days, an olive oil competition has never been issued in the country.
As I answered you in the question above, the importance of Tunisia as a producer country of volume and already a quality that is being improved, I really think that Tunisia will have a big and profitable place in the international market. It is a matter of time, working hard for quality and organisation for promotional actions in fairs and festivals like in Sfax.
TunisianMonitorOnline: What are the perspectives of the Brazilian market for Tunisia and what is your role in boosting this big market for a country like Tunisia, especially in these post-revolution period, which still struggles for an economically successful transition after achieving the success of the political and democratic transition?
Marcelo Scofano : Everything that I could witness in my visit to Tunisia makes me think that the perspectives could not be better. Now is the moment! It’s rich, but not easy, historical moment for both countries. The olive oil world is changing completely, step by step, and Tunisia is making big efforts to improve quality and everything that is necessary to have economic success with important agriculture commodities, not only olive oil, as I could see. You have many quality products, but the world does not know about this.
In my country, I’m known as the most important olive oil specialist and also a chef that knows how to use good quality products. In my meetings at Cepex Tunísia, we have realised that I can build commercial bridges between the two countries. It’s a big challenge that I have accepted for one initial action, which concerns in organising a small group of Brazilian’s food quality distributors to visit Tunisia and its projects. I’m sure that we will be very wellsuccessfull and this will be the first of many others commercial actions.
TunisianMonitorOnline (MNHN)
