LISTED Western Australian olive producer Olea Australis Limited has executed a distribution agreement for the sale and distribution of its olives throughout Hong Kong and China.
The company announced to the stock market on September 5 that it had signed an agreement with one of Hong Kong’s largest gourmet foods importers.
However, Olea is keeping the identity of that importer secret for the time being but it did say it had been operating in the Asian market for more than 35 years.
Olea CEO Geoff Newing said the arrangement would have the company’s Dandaragan Estate Ultra Premium Extra as part of a suite of more than 1,600 tonnes of high quality gourmet goods that is airfreighted into Hong Kong every month.
"Through this agreement the group is able to access the Hong Kong and Chinese markets which are increasingly adopting more western-style cuisine, of which olive oil forms a significant part," he said.
The Hong Kong agreement comes about one month after Olea signed an exclusive distribution agreement with Texas-based Trekk Holdings to distribute the Dandaragan Estate brand throughout the US.
Trekk has committed to sell 50 per cent of Olea’s forecast Dandaragan Estate production for the following four years and has undertaken to provide, at its expense, the necessary promotion and marketing activities to develop sales across the US.
Olea also had a strong showing at the recent Canberra Extra Virgin Olive Oil competition, winning two golds, three silver and five bronze medals.
The company also won two silver medals and three bronze medals at the Sydney Fine Food Show.
Olea has enjoyed strong support over the past two months, growing from around 7 cents in August to peak around 13 cents and settling at around 10 cents.
The company’s board is made up of John Simpson as chairman and executive director, Mr Newing, Anthony Sparks as chief financial officer and Kenneth Richards, Trevor Clohessy and Ian Middlemas as directors.
