Olive oil prices to skyrocket in 2024

You have probably read the disturbing news by now: In the whole of southern Europe and North Africa, there has been hardly any precipitation in recent years. At the same time, temperatures have risen to unpleasant values and in January 2024 it was already 30 ^o C in southern Spain.

[Parts of Spain were in meteorological drought in early January 2024, with southern and eastern areas classified as "extremely dry", the most severe of nine categories, shown here in red]

These extreme conditions resulted in a very disappointing olive harvest in 2023. If there is too little rainfall, the olive tree will respond by producing far fewer and also much smaller olives, from which less olive oil can be pressed. Add to that the higher transport costs, energy costs and wage increases and the result is easy to guess.

More expensive extra virgin olive oil.
Almost everything in the supermarket has become more expensive, but olive oil takes the cake. A bottle of extra virgin olive oil in the supermarket has become 50 percent more expensive on average over the past two years.

For comparison: The total price level of all groceries increased by around 20 percent over the same period, which is also not a small increase. Although the prices of extra virgin olive oil have risen dramatically, we cannot avoid it. What the olive groves need is precipitation, a lot of precipitation regularly distributed throughout the year.

Figures from the European Commission (EC) show that the bulk prices of extra virgin olive oil have increased by 60 percent in Spain, 50 percent in Italy and a staggering 80 percent in Greece in one year. After two years of poor harvests, the stocks that had been built up have also run out.

However, the olive farmers themselves are not benefiting from the higher prices. They cannot simply increase their production, but their higher costs continue, which reduces their profit margin.

Production was a third lower than normal last harvest year and prices have already doubled. Perhaps we should acknowledge that extra virgin olive oil has once again become a special product that we must treat with care.

And of course there is another problem: Every chef on television, every article in magazines and even the Nutrition Centre wants us to use more of that super healthy extra virgin olive oil in the kitchen. This evolution is causing a greater demand for olive oil worldwide, while there is less available. The law of supply and demand is also causing much higher prices in this case.

Cheaper sunflower oil.
Should we just switch to the cheaper sunflower oil? For a few applications it is certainly a cheaper alternative to the more expensive olive oil, but of course nothing can replace good extra virgin olive oil when it comes to taste, smell and health effects.

At the moment the prices are still acceptable with us, but we at Yakelos may be forced to adjust our prices in the course of the year. So be quick.