How Olive Oil Importers Navigate the Turbulent but Lucrative U.S. Market

Summary

Despite eco­nomic chal­lenges such as infla­tion and tar­iffs, demand for olive oil in the U.S. is pro­jected to con­tinue grow­ing, with imported olive oil account­ing for the major­ity of the mar­ket. Companies like Bono USA are adapt­ing to the chang­ing trade envi­ron­ment by invest­ing in their U.S. oper­a­tions, expand­ing mar­ket­ing efforts, and lever­ag­ing influ­encer part­ner­ships to reach a diverse con­sumer base and main­tain con­sis­tent sup­ply to retail­ers.

Inflation, tar­iffs and falling con­sumer con­fi­dence have not stopped demand for olive oil in the United States from climb­ing steadily.

The lat­est data from the United States Department of Agriculture fore­cast olive oil con­sump­tion to rise for the third straight mar­ket­ing year, which runs from November to October, reach­ing a record 478,000 met­ric tons in 2025/26.

However, com­pa­nies sell­ing imported olive oil, which accounts for at least 97 per­cent of the U.S. mar­ket, are adapt­ing to a shift­ing trade envi­ron­ment and new mar­ket­ing strate­gies to reach a diverse con­sumer base.

“Inflation and eco­nomic uncer­tainty have affected pur­chas­ing habits and behav­ior across all food cat­e­gories,” said Jon Kalina, the recently appointed chief exec­u­tive of Bono USA, the U.S. arm of the Sicilian pro­ducer and exporter.

“Even so, the demand for pre­mium and authen­tic prod­ucts is still there,” he added. ​“Consumers are pri­or­i­tiz­ing health and trace­abil­ity.”

Sustained demand for olive oil con­tin­ues despite grow­ing con­cern among U.S. con­sumers about the eco­nomic out­look.

The University of Michigan’s closely watched con­sumer sur­vey found that Americans were more wor­ried about the cur­rent state and future direc­tion of the econ­omy in January 2026 than they were a year ear­lier.

Kalina said olive oil con­tin­ues to defy broader food cat­e­gory trends, much as it did dur­ing the infla­tion­ary spike of 2022.

“For a few more dol­lars, con­sumers are not will­ing to trade down once they’ve gone up to that pre­mium prod­uct,” he said.

Despite the category’s resilience, Bono USA’s chief oper­at­ing offi­cer, Salvatore Russo-Tiesi, said the com­pany remains mind­ful of the finan­cial pres­sures fac­ing many house­holds.

“We like to use the term ​‘afford­able pre­mium,’” Russo-Tiesi said. ​“We’re very con­scious about invest­ing in our prod­uct while keep­ing pric­ing as low as pos­si­ble in the cur­rent eco­nomic head­winds.”

One of those head­winds has been the U.S. tar­iffs on most imported goods.

While the University of Michigan sur­vey found that con­cern about tar­iffs is grad­u­ally reced­ing, con­sumers across income lev­els remain wor­ried about high prices.

After six months of import­ing olive oil under the cur­rent 15 per­cent tar­iff on European Union prod­ucts, Russo-Tiesi said the impact has been man­age­able.

“Everyone is deal­ing with the tar­iffs, so no sin­gle European com­pany has a clear advan­tage or dis­ad­van­tage,” he said.

Russo-Tiesi pointed to the impor­tance of the company’s U.S. facil­ity, opened in 2023, and Bono’s ver­ti­cally inte­grated sup­ply chain in mit­i­gat­ing tar­iff impacts.

“Our strate­gic advan­tage has been boots on the ground,” he said. ​“Having our own ware­house allows us to con­trol inven­tory and respond quickly to uncer­tainty.”

“After the ten per­cent tar­iff announced in April, we antic­i­pated more was com­ing and were able to load up on prod­uct,” Russo-Tiesi added.

Kalina said the U.S. oper­a­tion also helps main­tain a con­sis­tent sup­ply to retail­ers, which is crit­i­cal to pre­serv­ing shelf space.

“The biggest death of any brand is long-term out-of-stock,” he said. ​“When you go out of stock, you lose dis­tri­b­u­tion. That shelf space is real estate you pay for.”

Bono USA’s invest­ment reflects a broader wave of U.S. expan­sion by European olive oil pro­duc­ers in the early 2020s, includ­ing a $25 mil­lion invest­ment by Certified Origins and U.S. bot­tling and farm­ing projects by Acesur.

Russo-Tiesi acknowl­edged that pro­duc­ers in Argentina, Chile and Turkey, which face lower tar­iffs, enjoy a mar­ginal advan­tage, but said U.S. demand can­not be met with­out European sup­ply.

Instead, he said South American and Turkish pro­duc­ers are ben­e­fit­ing from cur­rency dynam­ics, as a stronger euro has made European imports more expen­sive.

“It’s the logis­tics, the cur­rency and the tar­iff,” Russo-Tiesi said. ​“They won’t meet U.S. demand, but they can gain mar­ket share.”

For Kalina, the key to nav­i­gat­ing eco­nomic tur­bu­lence is steady growth paired with cost dis­ci­pline.

“We sell an expen­sive prod­uct,” he said. ​“It’s expen­sive to get on the shelf and to sup­port it. Steady, mod­er­ate growth wins the race.”

Bono USA has pur­sued that strat­egy by diver­si­fy­ing its retail base, work­ing with new dis­trib­u­tors and expand­ing mar­ket­ing efforts aimed at younger con­sumers.

Kalina said the com­pany con­tin­ues to add nat­ural food stores while seek­ing entry into big-box retail­ers, includ­ing Target, club stores and super­mar­kets.

“It’s nice to hit a home run every so often, but you need base hits along the way,” he said. ​“A sin­gle inde­pen­dent store or a 20-store chain can be a base hit.”

While coastal met­ro­pol­i­tan areas remain Bono USA’s core mar­kets, Russo-Tiesi said future growth depends on expand­ing across the south­ern and cen­tral U.S.

“We’ve invested in accounts in Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama,” he said. ​“We’re work­ing with retail chains in these regions.”

Local part­ner­ships help the com­pany bet­ter under­stand regional con­sumers and mar­ket to them effec­tively.

“We need their help with demon­stra­tions, fliers, com­mer­cials and end-caps,” Russo-Tiesi said. ​“Getting the prod­uct on the shelf is one thing. Getting it into people’s homes is another.”

Bono USA has also leaned into influ­encer mar­ket­ing to build aware­ness among younger con­sumers.

According to Rob Barletta of Marino PR, which han­dles mar­ket­ing for Bono USA, suc­cess­ful influ­encer part­ner­ships depend on edu­ca­tion and authen­tic­ity.

“We don’t send prod­uct to peo­ple who don’t appre­ci­ate qual­ity,” he said, not­ing that U.S.-based food influ­encers have deliv­ered strong results.

“We’ve spon­sored trips to Italy so influ­encers can learn how the prod­uct is made and where it comes from,” Barletta added. ​“That’s key.”

“You can’t just send a bot­tle and hope for the best,” he said. ​“You have to edu­cate the influ­encer and choose the right ones.”

Kalina said influ­encer mar­ket­ing has helped gen­er­ate organic demand, even­tu­ally reach­ing a tip­ping point with retail­ers.

“You even­tu­ally get to the point where retail­ers can no longer not put you on their shelves,” he said.