Many of you may have seen Light Olive Oil or Extra Light Olive Oil at your local grocery store. With all of the ‘light’ and ‘low-fat’ versions of products available these days, it’s easy to get confused about what this term actually means in relation to olive oil.

Note: This is a continuation of a previous blog Bulk Olive Oil - Direct Delivery vs. Direct Delivery Programs. Please click here to read that article first for a thorough understanding.

The first question that you may have as you research bulk olive oil is, “What is the price of bulk olive oil?”. This is a more complex question than it may seem, because there are many factors that can affect pricing.

The Short Answer

The price of a pallet of bulk olive oil is between $2,000-$6,000. The price of a 20 ft. Container with 20 pallets of bulk olive oil is between $30,000 and $90,000.

Demand for the 275 and 330 gallon Bag-In-Box (BIB) tote is growing in the manufacturing industry. There are many reasons that buyers opt for this packaging, including a cheaper price, easier disposal and additional savings on shipping. This recyclable tote is an alternative to the industry standard, which is a hard plastic tote with an aluminum frame.

One of the most popular questions that we get from customers is, “how do we get the olive oil out of this BIB tote?”If you’re used to the standard hard plastic totes that have a built-in spigot set into the base, this is a natural question.

As a bulk olive oil supplier to manufacturers, we work closely guiding many small businesses.  Their goal is usually the same: by transitioning from smaller purchases to bulk, they hope to save money and support their bottom line.  

While there are many benefits to making this change, there are also inherent challenges that many business owners don’t really know when they start evaluating.To save business owners some time, we’ll review the ways that switching to bulk purchasing can help (and hurt!) your small business.

Saves Money

By purchasing in bulk, you can reduce your cost by eliminating packaging and receiving volume discounts.  Because of the high cost of shipping, it is necessary to buy in full pallets to make savings outweigh the additional shipping costs.

Once your order is placed with Centra Foods, you can expect a lead time of 7-14 business days for your order to be processed.  This allows our team to prepare, pack and coordinate the shipping for your order.  This time may vary based on our current production schedule.  We try to be as flexible as possible and move orders through production as quickly as we can.

Bulk olive oil is, in essence, a commodity item.  This means that the global market price fluctuates on a daily basis and is largely dependent on the supply of olive oil available in the world.  

As a first-time bulk olive oil buyer, you may find that the quotes you receive don’t include the cost of shipping. In the bulk sector, this is a common thing for suppliers to leave out of your initial price quote. If you’re not used to the ‘bulk buying world’ that can be frustrating. Here are some of the reasons why it’s initially left out:

Here are some of the pros and cons of the two most common pack sizes for olive oil used in manufacturing. Work with your operations team to learn about your warehouse/production restrictions and goals before choosing the right size.

What are 'olive oil blends'?

An ‘olive oil blend’ most commonly refers to a blend of canola oil or soybean oil mixed with olive oil in a specific ratio. These blends can actually be made up of any type of oil mixed with any particular olive oil grade.

At Centra Foods, we work with manufacturers and distributors throughout the US and Canada for their bulk and wholesale olive oil.  As a result, we get contacted by experienced and amateur exporters alike who are looking to bring olive oil from the US to a different country for distribution.  

After working on projects large and small for these exporters, we’ve learned a few things.  Here is a bit of advice that will help you in the sourcing and exporting process.  

As a resource for bulk olive oil buyers, we have gotten this question before:

“Is there an Extra-Extra Virgin Olive Oil? Is there a higher grade than the Extra Virgin?”

The short answer is, no, there is just Extra Virgin and that is the highest quality grade of olive oil available.  The long answer, however, is a bit more complex.  

Most manufacturers buy their bulk olive oil in totes or drums that deliver a few pallets at a time. For large manufacturers that use a lot of volume, it is worthwhile to consider a larger bulk size that can save you even more money.

You can significantly cut down on the cost of your olive oil by receiving it in a flexitank or tanker.  This means that a truck would deliver to your facility with about 6,000 gallons of olive oil.  This oil is pumped into a “silo” or “storage tank”, located at your facility.  The question is, how do you know when it’s right to make the switch from totes to flexitanks/tankers?

Centra Foods is a bulk edible oil supplier, specializing in olive oil.  Our principal business is working with food manufacturers around the US for their bulk olive oil and blend needs.