Croatian Producers Shine in Record-Breaking Year at 2025 NYIOOC

Summary

Croatian olive oil pro­duc­ers achieved a record-break­ing 125 awards at the 2025 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition, show­cas­ing their increas­ing suc­cess and qual­ity in the indus­try. Despite fac­ing chal­lenges such as drought and fluc­tu­at­ing tem­per­a­tures, Croatian pro­duc­ers demon­strated resilience and skill, solid­i­fy­ing Croatia as a ris­ing global power in pre­mium olive oil pro­duc­tion.

Croatian olive oil pro­duc­ers made an extra­or­di­nary impact at the 2025 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition, earn­ing 125 total awards, includ­ing 101 Gold and 24 Silver — a remark­able climb from 80 awards in 2024 and 105 in 2023. This per­for­mance marks Croatia’s most suc­cess­ful year at the world’s largest olive oil qual­ity com­pe­ti­tion.

Tradition and Tenacity on Display

Among the stand­out per­form­ers was OPG Županović Radoslav, who returned to the winner’s cir­cle with a Gold Award for their Olio D’oro Galjin Dvor, an organic medium Oblica. Owner Rade Županović noted the sig­nif­i­cance of back-to-back wins at NYIOOC, say­ing, ​“The sec­ond Gold Award from New York for our organic oil con­firms the con­ti­nu­ity of qual­ity, which comes first in our pro­duc­tion phi­los­o­phy.” Reflecting on a dif­fi­cult sea­son marked by a dry sum­mer, Županović added, ​“Rain pro­vided relief at the last moment, and the har­vest was excel­lent. All of that cre­ated the con­di­tions for a healthy fruit that ulti­mately secured the Gold Award.”

OPG Boris i Ivanka, another Dalmatian pro­ducer, claimed a Silver Award for their Family Ivić blend. ​“Winning a Silver Award at NYIOOC is a great honor and proof of our ded­i­ca­tion to qual­ity and pas­sion for olive grow­ing,” said owner Krešimir Ivić. ​“This award moti­vates us to keep inno­vat­ing and invest­ing in excel­lence.”

Also mak­ing head­lines was Avistria, which earned four Gold Awards. Co-owner Rudolf Nemetschke noted, ​“The Gold Award at the NYIOOC con­firms our method­ol­ogy and strongly sup­ports our work and ideas. We are thank­ful to all our part­ners who have sup­ported our achieve­ments.”

Overcoming Adversity

Croatian pro­duc­ers faced chal­leng­ing con­di­tions dur­ing the 2024/25 crop year, includ­ing drought, fluc­tu­at­ing tem­per­a­tures, and yield uncer­tainty. Yet, these chal­lenges under­scored the resilience and skill of the country’s farm­ers.

OPG Lalin added to Croatia’s achieve­ments with a Gold Award for its Dalma Premium blend. ​“This award is a tes­ta­ment to the hard work, ded­i­ca­tion and pas­sion we invest in every step of pro­duc­tion, despite the many chal­lenges of olive grow­ing,” said owner Vinko Lalin. ​“This recog­ni­tion is not just our suc­cess but also a suc­cess for the entire region, fur­ther estab­lish­ing its place on the global map of pre­mium olive oils”.​

A Nation Ascending

With a suc­cess rate of 87 per­cent — one of the high­est in the com­pe­ti­tion — Croatia’s show­ing this year firmly estab­lished the coun­try as a ris­ing global power in pre­mium olive oil pro­duc­tion. Croatian entries out­per­formed much larger pro­duc­ing nations on a per-entry basis and showed excel­lence across both mono­va­ri­etal and blend cat­e­gories.

Many of these award-win­ning pro­duc­ers are indexed in the Olive Oil Times World Ranking, where their cumu­la­tive achieve­ments over the years con­tinue to build global recog­ni­tion and mar­ket trust.