WATCH: Evangelo Sipsas reports from Greece on olive production

The European Parliament gave the green light to an EU-China agreement on the mutual protection of traditional food and drink products earlier this year.

The second such trade and economic agreement signed with China over the past three years adds another 100 EU products to the protected list, including feta cheese, Samos wines, and Kalamata olives.

About 150 kilometers north of Athens, second-generation olive grower Asimina Aggeli runs an olive export company. She ships 80 percent of what she harvests abroad, and with the Kalamata olives included in the list of protected products, she sees that number growing.

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"Our product itself already has a good name in the global market. Most of the people in the industry know each other, even on a global scale, simply because few of us export the true Kalamata olives," said Aggeli.

"The product itself doesn't need any advertisement, but the latest announcement of making it a protected product will definitely open more markets and put us on the map."

The EU and China recently agreed on assigning special status to 200 food products granting them Geographical Indications (GIs).  

Under this agreement those products from both the EU and China will be recognized as 'intellectual property' tightly linked to the location where they have traditionally been produced. Kalamata olives are a large, dark brown type with a smooth, meaty texture, named after the city of Kalamata in the southern Peloponnese, Greece.

Along with their dairy counterpart, feta cheese, they have been added to the list, a step that has increased their popularity in China.

A 'boost' for the economy

More than 220,000 tons of table olives were exported last year, earning the country almost $700 million in revenue - and all that through the port of Piraeus. While the main destination is the U.S. and Canada, the protection of products along with further development of the port is facilitating the addition of new routes to the list.

"The extension of the port and our products being listed GIs will help us further boost our economy," said Vassiliki Loizou, Secretary General for Private Investment for the Greek Ministry of Development. 

"It also allows us to act as a hub for the transfer of other products from both the EU and China as this will be the first entry and last exit point for products, in cooperation with our Chinese counterparts."

Greece produces a range of olive varieties, each with their own unique taste. And as a small nation, it has big competition around the world. But now with the protection agreement in place, the next time you eat Kalamata olives chopped in a salad, as a paste, or simply raw - you know you are getting the real deal.

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