Alex Trelinski
AN olive oil price war has ignited in Spanish supermarkets with the Mercadona chain on Wednesday lowering the cost of a litre of the so-called ‘liquid gold’ of its Suave and Intenso varieties.
Both products are now priced at €6.95- down 67 cents.
Mercadona has also announced a €2.91 reduction on three-litre bottles of the same brands and claims to have slashed olive oil prices by 25% so far this year.
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The price battle is fuelled by wholesale market prices falling with expectations of a better olive harvest.
Distributors are changing their profit margins to announce price cuts for the food product that produced the biggest inflationary rise in the last two years.
The latest price cut makes Mercadona the most competitive supermarket for olive oil.
Carrefour has the most expensive average price per litre at €11.33 followed by El Corte Ingles, which includes the Supercor and Hipercor chains on €10.87.
Next on the list compiled by the OCU consumer group is Ahorramas (€10.85), Dia (€9.93), Alcampo (€9.89), Mas (€8.48), and lastly Lidl (€8.39).
In terms of ‘own brands’, Supercor is the most expensive at €9.15 per litre, followed by Eroski and Dia, which keep their prices at €8.95.
The escalation of olive oil prices during the last year led the government to extend the zero VAT charge until the end of September.
Between October and December the rate will go up to 2% and from next year, the product will be classified as a basic foodstuff meaning that it will always have a reduced VAT rate that will never be more than 4%.
