Croatian Producers Call for Stronger Branding After Another Record NYIOOC Showing

Summary

Croatian olive oil pro­duc­ers are cel­e­brat­ing their suc­cess at the 2026 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition, where they earned 128 awards, plac­ing sec­ond behind Italy. Producers are call­ing for stronger national brand­ing and insti­tu­tional sup­port to fur­ther enhance Croatia’s image as a pro­ducer of high-qual­ity extra vir­gin olive oil and com­pete for the top posi­tion in 2027.

Croatian olive oil pro­duc­ers are call­ing for stronger national brand­ing and insti­tu­tional sup­port after another stand­out per­for­mance at the 2026 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition.

Producers from Croatia earned 128 awards at the recently con­cluded com­pe­ti­tion, includ­ing 103 Gold Awards and 25 Silver Awards, plac­ing the coun­try sec­ond world­wide behind Italy.

“We are sec­ond in the world. We did not only repeat last year’s suc­cess; we sur­passed it,” said Ante Vulin, a pro­ducer from Pakoštane in north­ern Dalmatia.

Vulin and other pro­duc­ers from the coastal town earned seven awards, includ­ing six Gold Awards and one Silver Award.

Croatia also fin­ished sec­ond in 2025, but this year improved its total by two Gold Awards and one Silver Award. Italy led the com­pe­ti­tion with 166 awards, fol­lowed by Croatia with 106, Greece with 106, the United States with 95, and Spain with 85.

The result was espe­cially notable given Croatia’s rel­a­tively small olive oil pro­duc­tion. Istria and Dalmatia, the country’s two main pro­duc­ing regions, together pro­duce about 3,500 to 5,000 tons of olive oil annu­ally. Spain, by con­trast, pro­duces more than 1.3 mil­lion tons in a typ­i­cal year.

With 128 awards from 144 entries, Croatia recorded an 89 per­cent suc­cess rate, one of the high­est among major par­tic­i­pat­ing coun­tries. Italy earned awards for 79 per­cent of its entries.

“This con­firms that we are the most con­sis­tent coun­try in the world when it comes to qual­ity,” said Filip Erceg, an enol­o­gist.

Producers said a smaller crop caused by drought was off­set by high oil yields and strong sen­sory pro­files, with many oils marked by fruiti­ness and bal­ance.

In Dalmatia’s hin­ter­land, long­time grower Drago Malić said timely har­vest­ing helped pro­tect fruit from the olive fruit fly. ​“We kept the fruit healthy, with­out a sin­gle sting,” said Malić, a retired math­e­mat­ics pro­fes­sor who has grown olives for four decades.

Istria and Kvarner earned 54 awards, includ­ing 51 Gold Awards, while Dalmatian pro­duc­ers earned 74 awards, includ­ing 52 Gold Awards.

Among the country’s most suc­cess­ful pro­duc­ers, Avistria ranked eighth in the Olive Oil Times World Ranking. In Dalmatia, Ivica Vlatković has earned 25 NYIOOC awards since 2017.

“We har­vest the fruit when it con­tains the high­est level of dry mat­ter and press it imme­di­ately,” said Velimir Jurić of Oleum Maris, which earned four Gold Awards.

Other pro­duc­ers pointed to mar­ket­ing as an essen­tial part of build­ing value around Croatian olive oil. ​“Marketing is impor­tant. Without it, it is like wink­ing at a girl in the dark,” said Saša Petković, who pro­duces Bilini with Vedrana Rakovac.

Since 2015, when Croatia had only nine entries at the NYIOOC, the coun­try has become one of the competition’s most con­sis­tent per­form­ers, both in the num­ber of rec­og­nized brands and in its suc­cess rate.

“In terms of qual­ity, we are the best in the world, bet­ter than Italy and Spain,” Vlatković said.

Still, pro­duc­ers said that Croatia’s results should be matched by a more coor­di­nated national strat­egy. They argued that sup­port for com­pe­ti­tion costs, pro­mo­tion and olive oil tourism would strengthen the country’s image as a pro­ducer of high-qual­ity extra vir­gin olive oil.

Croatian oils are often crit­i­cized for being more expen­sive than the European aver­age. However, pro­duc­ers said the prices reflect small-scale pro­duc­tion, care­ful har­vest­ing and the absence of large-scale refin­ing.

They added that Croatia’s inter­na­tional results, such as its achieve­ments in foot­ball, help shape its image abroad. With stronger pub­lic and pri­vate coor­di­na­tion, they said, Croatia could build on its momen­tum and com­pete for the top posi­tion in 2027.