Alex Trelinski
THE WHOLESALE price of Spanish extra virgin olive oil soared to a new all-time high on Tuesday of above €8,200 per metric ton.
This came as Spain, which produces around 45% of the world’s olive oil, is getting ready for its second consecutive sub-standard harvest caused by high temperatures.
In the 2022/23 season, Spain produced around 662,000 tons of olive oil- a 54% decline from the four-year production average.
Serious damage has already been done to 2023/24 crop, due to the continuing drought.
APA farmers’ union president, Cristobal Cano, said: “The drought plus the high temperatures that we saw when the olive trees were in flower in almost all olive-growing areas in the country … means we’re heading for another bad harvest, and that is going to cause even more tension in the markets.”
“In the best-case scenario, our production will be the same as last season,” he added.
Consumer prices have doubled in a year with a standard litre of olive oil costing €10, with buyers responding by boycotting the product, with sales down by 51% in the first half of the year, according to figures from the University of Jaen.
Alternative products like vegetable oil which has almost fallen back to pre-Ukraine war prices is being used as a cheap substitute.
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READ MORE:
- Olive oil prices rocket to sky-high levels as olive harvests get ravaged by drought across Spain
- Concerns over olive oil price hike in Spain as production halved
- Scorching heatwaves in Spain threaten olive oil production, says government minister
