Greek Exporters Ask Athens to Scrap the Kalamata PDO
Greece’s table olive exporters have asked the agriculture ministry to abolish the protected designation of origin for Kalamata olives, arguing that a name the world treats as a variety should not be locked to one province. Messinia’s growers and the mayor of Kalamata are fighting back. Here is the row, the tonnages behind it, and why it matters to anyone who buys a jar labeled Kalamata.
What happened
On March 22 the Panhellenic Union of Table Olive Processors, Standardizers and Exporters, known by its Greek initials PEMETE, filed a formal request with the Ministry of Rural Development and Food to cancel the protected designation of origin “Elia Kalamatas”. The PDO reserves the name for table olives grown and processed in the prefecture of Messinia, in the southern Peloponnese.
PEMETE’s case is blunt: the designation has not worked as intended and has not paid off for growers or for the country. Abroad, the exporters argue, “Kalamata” is understood as a kind of olive, not as a place, and the PDO simply keeps most Greek producers of that variety from using the word that sells. They put current PDO production at roughly 800 to 1,000 tons a year, against perhaps 40,000 tons a year of the same variety grown elsewhere in Greece, in regions such as Aetolia-Acarnania and Phthiotis. The union says it has been looking for a solution since 2003.
Messinia says no
The response from Messinia was immediate. Local producers reject the idea, pointing out that a designation of origin is by definition tied to an area, and arguing that the province’s microclimate and growing practices produce a better olive. The mayor of Kalamata wrote to the prime minister and the agriculture minister urging them to throw out PEMETE’s request. With the value of the name at stake on both sides, nobody expects a quick or quiet end.
| Point | Detail |
|---|---|
| What is protected | Table olives of the Kalamata variety grown and processed in Messinia |
| PDO volume | About 800 to 1,000 tons a year |
| Claimed potential | Around 40,000 tons a year if the name followed the variety |
| Who wants change | PEMETE, the processors, packers and exporters |
| Who opposes | Messinia growers, the municipality of Kalamata |
Why this is harder than it looks
Both sides have a real argument. A designation of origin exists to attach value to a place, and Messinia has spent years building exactly that. But the Kalamata olive has been planted far beyond Messinia for decades, and outside the protected zone Greek packers sell the same fruit under the variety name Kalamon, which foreign buyers find confusing at best.
There is a commercial worry underneath, too. Exporters say the muddle costs Greece foreign earnings and pushes processing offshore, because a buyer who cannot get the name he wants from Greece will happily buy the variety from somewhere else and pack it himself. A cancellation, on the other hand, would hand the name to everyone and strip Messinia of the one thing that distinguishes its olives on a shelf.
The decision now sits with the agriculture ministry, and any change to a registered designation would then have to go through Brussels. Nothing changes on shop shelves this season.
The jar of “Kalamata olives” in your supermarket almost certainly has nothing to do with the protected designation. A thousand tons is a rounding error in the table olive trade, and most of it never leaves the specialist market. What you are buying is the variety, packed by whoever bought the fruit cheapest that year. If you want the Messinian article, look for the PDO wording and the packer’s address, and expect to pay for it.
Sources
- Agrotypos: PEMETE files request to cancel the PDO for Kalamata table olives (March 26, 2013, in Greek)
- Olive Oil Times: The Battle Over Kalamata PDO (April 4, 2013)