How to import olive oil to Canada: a buyer's guide

1Who this guide is for

Three kinds of buyer bring olive oil into Canada. A restaurant or group that wants a consistent 3 L or 5 L tin at a better price than the broadline catalogue. A grocer or chain that wants a retail shelf of 500 ml glass with its own or the producer's label. A distributor that wants containers landed and ready to sell on. The steps are the same for all three; the quantities and the labels differ.

If you buy from an importer's stock in Canada, as most restaurants and grocers do, sections 2, 3, 7 and 10 are the useful ones. If you intend to be the importer of record on your own container, read all twelve.

2Olive oil grades, in plain terms

The International Olive Council trade standard defines the grades most producers label by, and the two numbers that come up on every specification sheet are free acidity and peroxide value.

• Extra virgin olive oil. Mechanically extracted, no heat or solvents, free acidity of 0.8 % or less expressed as oleic acid, peroxide value of 20 meq O₂/kg or less, and no sensory defects on a tasting panel. This is the finishing oil and the retail shelf oil.
• Virgin olive oil. Same process, free acidity up to 2.0 %, minor sensory defects allowed. A cooking oil with olive character at a lower price.
• Olive oil (sometimes labelled "pure" or "classic"). A blend of refined olive oil and virgin oil, free acidity of 1.0 % or less. Higher smoke point, neutral taste, the sauté and roasting oil.
• Olive pomace oil. Extracted from the pressed pulp with solvents, then refined and blended with virgin oil. The fryer oil where an olive profile matters. It is not olive oil in the tariff sense; see section 3.

Two cautions. Canada has its own food standards that govern what a label may call olive oil; your broker checks the CFIA's import reference tool for the product. And "harvest date" and "bottling date" are different things: shelf life counts from bottling, quality counts from harvest. Ask for both.

3Tariff classification: 1509 and 1510

The Harmonized System heading for olive oil and its fractions is 1509. Extra virgin, virgin and refined olive oil and their blends all sit under it, with the grade separated at the six-digit subheading. Olive pomace oil, and blends that contain it, sit under heading 1510, "other oils obtained solely from olives".

Canada extends each heading to a ten-digit tariff line in the Customs Tariff. The duty rate depends on that line and on the origin of the goods. Oil of European Union origin may qualify for preferential treatment under the Canada-EU agreement when the exporter provides the origin declaration; oil from Tunisia enters at the rate the schedule sets for its line. We declare the heading on the commercial invoice; your broker confirms the full line and the rate. The olive oil catalogue lists the heading for every SKU.

4Who does what

Five parties touch a container of olive oil between the mill and your dock.

The one role a buyer cannot delegate is the licence. Most businesses importing food into Canada need a Safe Food for Canadians licence, and it is held by the importer, not the broker. If you would rather not hold one, buy from an importer's stock; see import to Canada for the two ways to buy.

5The documents

In the order your broker will ask for them:

1. Pro-forma invoice and specification sheets, before the goods are packed, so classification and import conditions are checked in advance.
2. Commercial invoice with the data elements Canadian customs requires: seller, buyer, description, quantity, unit price, currency, country of origin, Incoterm.
3. Packing list, per pallet: cases, units, lot numbers, gross and net weights.
4. Bill of lading from the ocean carrier, which also proves the shipment's routing.
5. Origin declaration, when claiming a preferential rate. For EU goods this is a statement the exporter puts on the invoice or another commercial document.
6. Certificate of analysis per lot from the producer's laboratory: free acidity, peroxide value, UV absorbance.
7. Label artwork, so the broker can check the panel against the Canadian rules before anything is printed.

Keep the lot numbers consistent across the packing list, the certificate of analysis and the tins. Traceability questions, when they come, start with a lot number.

6Labelling basics for Canada

Retail glass sold in Canada is consumer-prepackaged food and carries the full label: common name, net quantity in metric units, the name and principal place of business of the responsible party, the list of ingredients where required, the nutrition facts table where required, and all mandatory information in both English and French. Foodservice tins sold to restaurants are not consumer-prepackaged, so some of those requirements do not apply to them; the broker confirms which.

A detail that surprises buyers: a best-before date is only required in Canada when the durable life is 90 days or less. Olive oil keeps 18 to 24 months, so the law does not require one, but producers print a date anyway because the trade expects it. Ask for the filling date on every unit regardless.

The grocery retail and distribution page lists our retail SKUs with their label status.

7Container maths

Olive oil is bulky before it is heavy. A 20-foot container holds about ten pallets of 1,200 by 1,000 mm; a 40-foot holds about twenty. The payload limit is rarely the constraint for tins; it is the constraint for tinned tomatoes.

Figures are sample builds; the pallet pattern on the specification sheet governs. Most buyers below a full container do better on a mixed container or on stock orders; see the product page for the 3 L tin for a worked pack and logistics block.

8Timelines from order to dock

From a confirmed order to a pallet at the Vancouver dock, when the oil is already filled and the container is booked promptly: eight to ten weeks. Add two to four weeks if the mill has to run a fresh filling for your label. The pieces, roughly:

• Filling and labelling at the mill: one to three weeks.
• Inland haulage to the port of loading and export clearance: one week.
• Ocean transit, Mediterranean to Vancouver: four to six weeks.
• Customs release at Vancouver: one to five business days.
• Drayage and devanning: one to two days. Then the domestic lane, from one day to Calgary to eight to Montreal.

Harvest is November to January in the northern Mediterranean. New-season oil is in Vancouver from late February. A buyer who wants one harvest year across the whole season books in December.

9Landed cost per case

A landed price per case is the sum of a dozen lines. When comparing an importer's delivered price against a container-direct quote, make sure both sides include the same lines.

10Storage and shelf life after arrival

Store tins and glass between 12 and 18 degrees Celsius, away from light and heat, and rotate first in, first out by filling date. Unopened tins keep 18 months from filling; retail glass is usually labelled at 18 to 24. Once a tin is opened, use it within two to three months. Inspect tins at receiving for dents on the seam and for rust; a dented seam is a rejection, a dented body is not.

11Mistakes we see

• Ordering retail glass with single-language labels and finding out at the broker's review.
• Reading the harvest date as the bottling date, or the reverse, and getting the remaining shelf life wrong by a year.
• Booking a container in October for new-season oil that will not be filled until February.
• Assuming the broker holds the Safe Food for Canadians licence. The importer holds it.
• Comparing an ex-works price against a delivered price as if they were the same number.
• Letting lot numbers drift between the packing list, the certificate of analysis and the tins.

12Checklist before you order

1. Decide whether you buy from stock or import direct. If direct: import-export account, broker appointed, licence confirmed.
2. Grade, format and label confirmed against the specification sheet; sample case approved.
3. HS heading on the quote; broker has confirmed the tariff line and the CFIA conditions.
4. Pallet build, container size and lane agreed; delivered or ex-works price understood line by line.
5. Documents list agreed: who issues what, and when.
6. Receiving standard set: shelf life remaining at delivery, inspection on the dock, lot recording.

When you are ready, request a price list and tell us which way you intend to buy. We reply with the list, the specification sheets and the document list for your broker.