Montedison food subsidiary Cereol said on Wednesday it planned to focus its strategy on oilseeds and suggested it could sell its Carapelli olive oil unit.
"The olive oil business has synergies with the oilseed activity. However, olive oil sales and distribution are less central to our core strategy today," Cereol said in a statement, forwarded by Montedison.
"Therefore Cereol has decided to consider alternatives for the future of its Carapelli subsidiary," it added.
Carapelli, whose green bottles feature prominently on supermarket shelves around the world, is 100 per cent owned by Cereol and made net sales of about 190 million euros last year.
Last month Montedison's new parent, Fiat-led Italenergia, unveiled a radical restructuring plan aimed at focussing on energy and selling off its various agro interests.
Italenergia said it was evaluating an expression of interest for Cereol, which has already sold off its Koipe edible oil company to Spain's SOS Cuetara .