Reliable supply, verifiable quality, terms that hold.

Straight answers

Questions I get asked before the first call.

What does extra virgin olive oil have to meet to be called extra virgin?

Free acidity at or below 0.8%, peroxide value at or below 20 meq O2/kg, and a sensory panel that finds zero defects with some fruitiness. Buyers who only check acidity get caught out: oil can pass chemically and still fail the panel. Ask for both a chemical panel and a sensory result on the actual lot, not on last year's harvest.

Which Incoterm should a food importer use for bulk shipments?

Choose the term that matches who genuinely controls each leg. FOB works when the buyer has a trusted freight forwarder at destination; CIF suits buyers who want a landed price and less coordination. EXW pushes all origin risk onto a buyer who is usually not present at the mill, which is why claims get messy. Pick control, not habit.

How do I know whether a quoted price is fair?

Break the quote into its stack — goods, packaging, freight, duty, finance, margin — and compare only the goods line against an origin benchmark. A quote is not high or low in the abstract; it is high or low relative to the origin index on the day plus the real cost of getting it to your door. OleaIndex publishes those benchmarks.

What payment terms are normal in food and beverage export?

For a first order, a 30% deposit with the balance against shipping documents is common and reasonable for both sides. Letters of credit make sense above roughly one container of value or where the destination bank requires them. Open account terms are earned across several shipments, not requested up front.

How long does a typical export order take from confirmation to arrival?

Plan four to eight weeks door to door. Roughly one to two weeks for production, bottling or filling and the document pack, then two to five weeks of transit depending on lane and transhipment, then customs clearance at destination. Harvest season and port congestion are the two variables that move that window most.

What documents should come with every shipment?

Commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading, certificate of origin, and a certificate of analysis tied to the exact lot number in the container. Health or phytosanitary certificates are required for most destinations. Retain a counter-sample from the shipped lot: without it, a quality claim is one party's word against the other's.

Can you source products other than olive oil?

Yes. The method is product-agnostic: write the specification first, qualify producers on repeatability at volume rather than on one flattering sample, and put third-party verification into the contract. Olive oil is where I run my own supply, but the same sourcing and quality discipline applies across food and beverage categories.

What is the minimum order you work with?

For bulk, one full container is the practical floor — below that, freight per unit stops making commercial sense for the buyer. For packaged retail goods, mixed pallets are workable for a first trial order. If your volume is smaller, say so early and I will tell you honestly whether it is worth doing.