The Shareholders' Meeting of Salov, an industrial group globally active in the oil sector, controlled by Chinese Bright Food, approved the 2023 consolidated balance sheet closed with oil sales of over 105 million liters for a consolidated turnover of 518,2 million Euro, with a value increase of +5% compared to 2022. In volume, however, the decrease was 12.5%.

The company, which has its headquarters and plant in Massarosa (Lucca) and to which belong the historic brands Filippo Berio and Sagra, has closed the 2023 exercise defined as "difficult" for the oil sector: one year, they emphasize from the Tuscan company, that "it has been everything but smooth as oil""characterized by the repetition of the low availability of raw material olive oil linked to the poor performance of the harvest in Spain, with overall volumes almost halved compared to the production potential". 

This has pushed the prices of extra virgin olive oil and olive oil to levels never before reached. It is enough to consider that the Community Evo Oil, the company note, reached peaks of about 9.50 Euro per kilo: a value more than double the peaks reached in the negative oil campaigns of the new millennium (2006, 2015, 2017) and about 4 times higher than the minimum marked in 20201. In seed oils, the stabilisation of sunflower oil prices achieved in 2023 should be reported. 

The abundant availability of raw material from Ukraine, adds the note, "has contributed to the consolidation of the costs in spite of the perennial difficulties of the transport by sea due to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and the use therefore of the handling by land that has increased the costs of shipment".

Although operating in a bad environment, Salov managed to manage the various markets, maintaining a high level of competitiveness and confirming high sales volumes. The 12.5% decline compared to the 2021 and 2022 financial years, the note continues, "is less than the decline in consumption recorded in many countries around the world" and has therefore led to a significant growth in the company’s market shares in the countries in which it operates.

"2023 will be remembered as a year of suffering for the oil sector -explains Fabio Maccari, managing director of Salov-. Not only has the desired reversal of the trend in the availability and costs of the raw material in the olive oil failed, but additional critical economic and financial factors have also been added, which have restricted the margins of manoeuvre for the companies, affects its financial results for the period. Nevertheless, the consolidated financial statements for 2023 confirms and reinforces the good that had already emerged in 2022. Moreover, with all the precautions of the case, there are good feelings about the developments of the next oil season and that therefore already this year could manifest improvements of the market in view of a normalization of supply and consumption in 2025".

Italian market

According to the company, at the end of 2023 Salov has become the third producer of the Italian market in the category of vegetable oils (evo, olive, seeds): in extra virgin olive, the Tuscan brand holds a share of 3.8% (+0.5% annually) of which 1.5% contributed by the brand Filippo Berio. In olive oils, the Sagra and Filippo Berio brands have reached a total share of 5.3% (+1.8%), of which 2.6% attributed to Filippo Berio alone. In the seed oil, the market share is 7.2% (+1%) with the Sagra brand alone.

Foreign market

In the international scenario, the note, emphasizes the "commercial exploits stand out in the markets of Brazil and Canada: in Brazil, the brand Filippo Berio has reached the new high at the end of 2023 with a 3.6% market share by volume, The Italian brand is now in sixth place in volume and is the first Italian brand in a huge but also very fragmented market. In Canada, according to the latest available data, Filippo Berio has achieved a market share of 4% by volume nationally and 7% by volume on the West Coast".

"The performance of the US and UK subsidiaries is also very important -the company continues its official press release-, as they have benefited from the excellent reception given to the brand extension by Filippo Berio in the new pesto and ready-to-use sauces lines; The latter won the Great Taste Awards 2023 in the UK".