A growing appetite for Greek food

Feta, olive oil, wine, organic vegetables...?Agricultural and food products from Greece are currently being exported like hotcakes, thanks to a changing economy in this southern European country. Greece’s next aim: win the French market.

Today the SIAL International Food Show ends at the Villepinte exhibition centre in the north of Paris. After four years of hiatus due to Covid, at this year’s fair, Greece was among the main participants with the country more than doubling its number of exhibitors - ?ahead of Brazil and the United States, with more than 311 Greek companies present. Overall, Greece ranked 5th in?terms of the number of companies at the exhibition.?

Ioannis Smyrlis even flew to France for the occasion. "Our presence reflects the importance that the agri-food sector has been playing in our economic development," explains the Secretary-General for Economic Affairs at the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Chairman of the Board for Enterprise Greece.

The Greek economy has strongly reoriented itself towards exports in recent years. This change would be nothing less than a "small miracle", according to economics professor Michael Arghyrou, who wrote an op-ed on the subject in the daily I Kathimerini last month. Between 2016 and 2021, Greek export values grew by an average of 6.6% each year.?Agricultural and food commodities are one of the drivers of this boom. Despite a slight decrease due to the pandemic, exports quickly recovered in 2020 and further increased remarkably in 2021 to eventually exceed €4,8 billion.

Power of attraction

Greece’s food products attract consumers with high purchasing power. The EU is a major market for Greece with most of ?Greek exports (67%) ?exported to EU countries, while their top destination countries are Italy (16%), Germany (15%), UK (9%), and France (4%).? Greece is now heightening its efforts to strengthen its position in the French market. Mr Smyrlis continued saying:

Our producers work with premium quality ingredients. We are in tune with the growing appetite here for natural and organic farming. No wonder that the French market is embracing more and more our products from year to year.

In recent years, the gastronomic model known as the "Greek diet" has gained momentum throughout the world as an alternative to the famous Mediterranean diet, thanks to the health benefits observed. Mixed salads, ripe fruit, fish, and extra-virgin olive oil have beneficial effects against cholesterol and hypertension and reduce the risk of developing certain types of diabetes.

Athens is also taking legal measures to strengthen its brand internationally and ensure that its products, certified with PDO/PGI labels, are now protected. Last July, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled in favour of the Hellenic Republic with Denmark told to stop exporting cheese under the name of "feta" outside Europe. This decision strengthens Greece’s certified products and its overall strategy, the country has already had more than 100 products certified and it is ranked 5th in Europe in terms of PDO/PGI label products, which vary from currants to ouzo.

To the taste of investors

Other welcome news for the Greeks is that all this dynamism attracts funds. "The foreign direct investment we have received in the sector has increased sevenfold in volume in the last three years," Smyrlis said. He sees this as the result of the strategy carried out by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. His government has lowered the level of corporate tax, while injecting hundreds of millions of euros into the country's agriculture and aquaculture through European funding, with the idea of supporting producers who invest in digital technology and green innovations.

While the ongoing international crises are making the dialogue on Europe's need for food independence flourish, the olive orchards of the Peloponnese and other areas around Greece are more than ever characterized by golden reflections.