Palestinian olive oil venture meant to harvest stability
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
OAKLAND - In the months after Sept. 11, 2001, Bashir Anastas drifted away from his career as a traffic engineer and toward engagement in global affairs.
Now, energized by his stint as a peace activist, the Palestinian-American is trying to channel the momentum into a unique business venture. The 43-year-old may be the first entrepreneur to import Palestinian olive oil into the United States.
With Holy Land Olive Oil, Anastas hopes to bolster small farmers in his struggling native land while building a business that taps into the growing market for specialized oils.
"In the Middle East, making peace starts with improving conditions on the ground," he said. "The most political decisions anyone can make are the economic decisions they make in their lives."
Bob Bauer, president of the North American Olive Oil Association, a New Jersey-based industry group, said he has not encountered anyone else importing Palestinian oils.
While a small businessman like Anastas would have a difficult time getting his products into large supermarkets, Bauer said, he could benefit from strong growth in the public's demand for the oil. With 99 percent of all olive oil consumed in the United States coming from overseas, the nation imported 473 million pounds in 2003, up from 267 million in 1993, according to the association.
"Sales of olive oil are growing so quickly that there's room for other people to be in the business," Bauer said. "Consumer demand is there."
Anastas, who was born in Bethlehem, moved to California to attend graduate school. He spent 14 years working as a civil engineer and transportation planner for several Northern California municipalities, including Alameda and Hayward.
After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Anastas became active in the Alliance for a Just Peace in the Middle East, a group with roots in the Bay Area. An e-mail arrived from an Israeli professor seeking partners in the United States to import Palestinian olive oil as a charitable venture. A hot weather crop, olives account for a significant portion of Palestinian agriculture.
Anastas coordinated peace activists who imported and distributed a shipment of oil in 2003. Thinking the enterprise had potential to grow, he approached a dealer in San Francisco, who told him it would be too expensive to succeed.
Anastas decided to pursue the idea anyway.
"I noticed early on that olive oil is becoming more like the wine industry," he said. "You can find a $2 bottle of wine and a $500 bottle of wine."
Distributed primarily through peace groups and cooperative grocery stores, Holy Land Olive Oil sells for $12 to $13.50 for a 750 milliliter bottle. As sales increase, Anastas would like to add other sizes and bring down the price, but he has more pressing matters to handle in the meantime.
Anastas' supply chain starts with a group of farmer cooperatives in the Ramallah and Salfit regions of the West Bank, where the poverty rate is close to 40 percent and the mobility of residents is sharply restricted. Anastas buys the oil for 30 percent above market rate, he said, because prices are so depressed that market rate is "not fair trade."
The oil goes through an agricultural relief committee to a shipping agent in Ramallah before a forwarder in Ramat Gan, Israel, sends it abroad. Anastas is currently waiting on a 15-ton shipment -- enough for about 20,000 bottles -- but repeated Israeli security inspections are driving up the price and wait time, he said.
"If you're doing business in the West Bank, everything is painful," said Peter Berck, a UC Berkeley professor of agricultural and resource economics who has studied the region. "It's a major triumph to get a product, get it out of the West Bank and down onto a dock, and from the dock on to someone who will sell it."
Even though Holy Land is now a for-profit venture, Anastas said he plans to donate 7 percent to 10 percent of the proceeds to Palestinian educational and agricultural charities. By stressing that aspect of the business, as well as the farmers' avoidance of pesticides, he hopes to appeal to socially and environmentally conscious consumers across the country.
Tania Maxwell, an antique shop owner in Cambridge, Mass., became a Holy Land distributor through her involvement in a local peace group. She and a colleague are volunteering their time finding buyers throughout the northeast, though they expect the arrangement may evolve into a more formal distributorship.
"Yes, it's a good cause," Maxwell said. "And it's great-tasting oil as well."
Dan Laidman covers small businesses and professional-services firms. Reach him at 925-943-8263 or dlaidman@cctimes.com.
