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A participant tastes olive oil at the World Olive Oil Exhibition in IFEMA of Madrid, Spain, March 27, 2019. The World Olive Oil Exhibition kicked off on Wednesday. More than 760 exhibitors present their olive oil products during the two-day international fair. (Xinhua/Guo Qiuda)

MADRID, March 27 (Xinhua) -- The eighth edition of the World Olive Oil Exhibition (WOOE) opened its doors at the IFEMA exhibition center here on Wednesday.

Organizers confirmed that over 750 companies from 10 different countries, including Spain, Morocco, Italy and Greece, are exhibiting, while industry professionals from over 30 different nations, including China, Germany and the U.S., will also be present at the event.

One of the key attractions of the exhibition, which has grown in importance every year, is that it allows buyers to meet producers. One group of purchasers has been invited by Extenda, the Trade Promotion Agency of Andalusia, a major Spanish olive oil producing region.

According to the Statista.com website, Spanish olive oil exports were worth 3.9 billion euros (4.4 billion U.S. dollars) in 2017.

The WOOE will also include a wide range of conferences and tasting sessions, as well as round-table discussions on issues such as "tendencies in olive oil consumption," "interactions with the distribution," and "reflections on olive oil consumption."

Other attractions at the WOOE include the Olive Oil Bar, which will host tasting sessions and product presentations, or the "The WOOE Challenge" competition to create the best salad (and, of course, the best olive oil-based salad dressing).

The Gourmet Area counts on the presence of famous Spanish chef Kike Pineiro, who will give several demonstrations of cooking regional Spanish dishes using olive oil.

Olive oil is a key ingredient of the famous 'Mediterranean diet', which is based on the consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables, fish and pulses. This is considered to be one of the healthiest diets in the world.

Consumption of olive oil has increased consistently for the past 20 years worldwide, with Spanish producers making an effort to crack important expanding markets, such as the U.S. and China.