A Middle Eastern culinary enterprise has reported its UK sales soared by half to £3.2m in 2024, as shoppers actively purchase its olive oil in solidarity with communities in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
Zaytoun, translating to "olive tree" in the Arabic language, is a social enterprise established to bolster the endurance of local communities through fair trade.
Buying premium olive oil and medjool dates from the territory has offered customers a tangible method to support local farmers, according to the managing director.
"Shoppers could hold it in their hand and say, I have achieved this, even if it’s a small act," she remarked. The sharp sales increase demonstrated "individuals wanting to create an impact with their purchasing power," she added.
At this time of year, a promotional campaign by the ethical trade organization seeks to boost recognition and purchases of products that bear the organization's certification.
The logo is a assurance that producers get a set base rate, along with an additional sum known as the ethical bonus, which is placed into a shared pool for workers and farmers to utilize as they see fit. In 2024, British sales of Fairtrade products including coffee, herbal blends and bananas produced £28m in bonus payments.
However, shoppers looking for the distinctive logo will not find it on the brand's olive oil. This is due to the security situation means nobody is in a position to complete the inspections necessary for certification.
"Our team haven’t been able to obtain ethically certified olive oil out of the region for almost a year now," said the director. "The certifier withdrew at minimal warning and without a handover."
In a statement released on recently, the Fairtrade Foundation and wider ethical commerce network pledged to "raise our voices in unity with the residents of the Gaza region and the West Bank whose futures are being deliberately undermined."
Eleanor Harrison, the organization's chief executive, said that as a movement "we hold that every person has the right to live and work in security and shape their own future."
She added: "We advocate justice, solidarity, and the empowerment of people to decide on their own paths. We cannot remain silent while the foundations of life are being destroyed."
The enterprise is still buying the "identical" olive oil from small-scale farmers in the West Bank, and has optimism that a new local auditor will be established to approve the upcoming crop. The half-liter bottles sell for approximately £15.
The pictures of destruction in Gaza render it difficult to imagine farming activities. But cultivating olives is essential to the majority of rural Palestine, said the spokesperson. "The landscape is scattered with ancient trees … nearly every household own some whether it’s 20 or many."
"The hardiness of the tree, what it can endure, is highly symbolic to the people. It’s a symbol for their fortitude and durability through all these difficult times."
While demand for the brand products, which include almonds and large grains, has been robust, maintaining operations has proven challenging.
Its products are transported from the neighboring port of Haifa, but the journey is protracted. The vehicles must take alternate routes to go through security stops, and the loads need to be arranged far less high than capacity to permit detection animals to jump over them.
What appeared as an "impossible situation" in the early 2000s, when Zaytoun started as a volunteer-led initiative by a small team motivated by a trip to Palestine, has only deteriorated, the director explained.
"But we’ve seen the demand in the UK match that increase … From 2023 to this year we expanded by approximately half due to the British consumers seeking to show support in a tangible manner."
She mentioned that at the beginning people questioned whether the brand was a viable business. "Our items are quite costly to purchase, so there’s little profit margin," she said, noting that the "costs are very elevated in this market for buyers, so people believed they would not buy them."
"The venture was just an endeavor that then took off due to people embracing it. At no time did it seem like a thing that had any kind of longevity."
"Yet two decades later, here we are."
