`Olive Oil Region in Argentina Launches Origin Certification Program - Olive Oil Times

Olive Oil Region in Argentina Launches Origin Certification Program

By Sarah Schwager
Oct. 29, 2010 10:17 UTC

By Sarah Schwager
Olive Oil Times Contributor | Reporting from Buenos Aires

An Argentinean olive-grow­ing region is attempt­ing to pro­mote its pro­duce and boost exports, while also dis­tin­guish­ing it from imported goods, by label­ing locally made prod­ucts.

Pocito, a depart­ment of the San Juan province, which is famous for its olive oil and wine, will attach a spe­cial iden­ti­fi­ca­tion label to local prod­ucts that qual­ify, with the first phase to be rolled out to pro­duc­ers of grapes, toma­toes, gar­lic, onion, olives and all their deriv­a­tives.

Sergio Uñac

More than 2000 agri­cul­tural pro­duc­ers and pack­ers, 30 winer­ies and more than a dozen agribusi­nesses may qual­ify for this label.

The project came about after 30% of respon­dents in a 2008 sur­vey of the pro­duc­tion sit­u­a­tion in the hor­ti­cul­ture, olive and wine indus­tries expressed a lack of action by the depart­ment in pro­mot­ing pro­duc­tion and export sup­ply. Industry pro­duc­ers and entre­pre­neurs also moved to urgently address urban growth.

Pocito Mayor Sergio Uñac said local prod­uct cer­ti­fi­ca­tion will help pro­mote the posi­tion­ing of agro-indus­trial prod­ucts, expand local com­pa­nies in the global econ­omy and, by improv­ing busi­ness, help the depart­ment as well.

That then gen­er­ates greater employ­ment in the work­force, a bet­ter social sit­u­a­tion and bet­ter edu­ca­tion,” Dr. Uñac said.[1]

He said the deci­sion to label local prod­ucts, along with the design of the project, was made by the entire Pocito com­mu­nity through a strate­gic plan pre­sented last year.

Argentinean olive oil pro­duc­tion has grown sig­nif­i­cantly over recent years but it is still dwarfed by the mas­sive European indus­try. The San Juan depart­ment hopes this ini­tia­tive will help endorse Argentina’s indus­try and ensure its prod­ucts are rec­og­nized across the world.

The cer­ti­fi­ca­tion of ori­gin also means qual­i­fy­ing pro­duc­ers can apply for a 50% dis­count on coun­cil taxes on com­mer­cial and indus­trial prop­er­ties and ser­vices. Such cer­ti­fi­ca­tion can also be used to claim spe­cial con­ces­sion on any import duties charged. To qual­ify for the label, at least 50% of the work­force of the com­pany must be located in Pocito. This is designed to increase employ­ment in the depart­ment.

Head of the Local Economic Development Agency Andrés Díaz Cano said there is already a sig­nif­i­cant num­ber of com­pa­nies that now want to estab­lish their indus­tries in the depart­ment. Having planned devel­op­ment in this decade and pro­vided legal sup­port for the rel­e­vant reg­u­la­tion has gen­er­ated an excel­lent invest­ment cli­mate in the munic­i­pal­ity,” he said.

The munic­i­pal­ity has reg­is­tered the Pocito Product brand with the National Institute of Industrial Property and is now respon­si­ble for pro­mot­ing the com­mer­cial logo.
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[1] Diario de Cuyo

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