In countries like Spain and Italy, olive oil is at the heart of the Mediterranean diet. It is also popular in Germany. The fact that the price has been rising rapidly for months is causing discontent – and strange flowers.
At first glance, the pensioner Rosa in Madrid and the amateur chef Thomas C. in Hamburg have nothing in common. But when they’re shopping in the supermarket, in front of the olive oil shelf, they react the same way: big eyes and a “That’s not possible!” The price has risen rapidly. “Then you’re surprised that people are eating more and more unhealthily,” complains the 85-year-old Spaniard. Thomas C. (56) says: “In the future, perhaps olive oil will only be added to salads.”
Green gold is becoming more and more expensive because it is becoming increasingly scarce. Spain is by far the world’s largest producer of olive oil. The annual yield, which averaged around 1.5 million tons in recent years and accounted for almost half of global production, fell to less than half (665,000 tons) in the 2022/2023 harvest season. The reason was unfavorable weather conditions with very little rain. This year, the Ministry of Agriculture in Madrid expects only a slight recovery.
Price multiplied in Spain
The lower production volume, combined with increased production costs, has consequences: the price of extra virgin rose from around 400 to over 800 euros per 100 kilograms within a single year. A few years ago the price for this highest quality olive oil in Spain was only slightly over 200 euros.
It was similar in other important producing countries such as Italy and Greece. This has strange consequences: olive oil has suddenly become a popular stolen commodity. In the summer months alone, more than 80,000 liters were stolen from warehouses and oil mills in Andalusia in southern Spain. The newspaper “El Mundo” recently wrote that producers are fearful of the “pirates of liquid gold.”
There is also an increase in olive and oil theft in Greece, as Cretan oil producer Giorgos Papadakis says. “The thefts are not as big as in Spain, but if 200 kilograms of good quality oil are stolen from a farmer here, the thief has 2,000 euros in his pocket overnight.”
Stores secure olive oil bottles against thieves
In Spain and Greece, the oil and olives in the tanks and warehouses are now better monitored. In some Spanish shops, bottles have even been secured with plastic caps like expensive alcohol for some time now.
Spanish farmers don’t just have to contend with thieves. A sharp decline in demand is a major concern. Numerous traditional oil mills had to close this year due to loss-making operations. The Secretary General of the Association of Small Farmers and Livestock Farmers of Andalusia (UPA), Cristóbal Cano, warns: “An irreparable economic and social catastrophe is looming” in olive cultivation. The sector employs around 365,000 people in Spain.
Problems in Italy, Greece and Türkiye
The crisis also hits Italy. Production there is declining more and more and prices are skyrocketing. According to the Coldiretti agricultural association, an increase of almost 50 percent was recorded this year. The head of the oil farmers’ association Unaprol, David Granieri, speaks of an “unprecedented situation”.
Italy is one of the leaders in olive oil consumption, and the crisis is quickly making itself felt in the shopping basket. The country itself is estimated to produce around 290,000 tonnes of virgin olive oil this year. In order to no longer be so dependent on imports, especially from Spain, the government in Rome wants to grow more than a million new olive groves.
In Greece, hundreds of larger and countless small and micro farmers are now producing up to 330,000 tons – but only every other year, because olive trees bear fully for one year and then take a year’s rest, so that the yield is lower. 2023 is such a weak year.
There are also problems in neighboring Türkiye. The Ministry of Commerce initially reported records in August: production and exports had increased significantly. Turkish exporters responded to the increased demand from abroad and offered more for export. However, this was not good news for most Turks. Their staple food became scarce and expensive. There is now an export blockade.
Customers in Germany are holding back
The crisis is also making itself felt in Germany. “The consumer prices for cold-pressed olive oil from conventional production were around 54 percent higher in October 2023 than a year ago,” said Thomas Els of the German Press Agency.
The consumer researcher at Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft (AMI) reports that demand for olive oil has developed weaker than the entire product group so far in the second half of the year. The reason, in addition to the rising prices: “Since the price high for sunflower and rapeseed oil has dissipated over the course of the year, the price gap has also increased.”
Farmers everywhere unanimously blame the malaise on increasingly frequent extreme weather events. Take Greece, for example: Because of the mild winter, the trees didn’t have time to rest, explains farmer Vassilis Mouselimis. Then in spring the temperatures were too high right at the time of flowering, which resulted in problems with fruit formation. And finally, there wasn’t enough rain, which was bad for the growth of the olives.
José Gilabert is 59 and has been growing olives in Andalusia since he was 13. “It used to get cooler here at the end of August,” he told the newspaper El País. “And now we’re still harvesting the olives in November with short sleeves.”
Source: Stern
