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Heat waves and drought in major olive oil producers, such as Spain and Italy, caused oil production to drop by 20% in the 2022-2023 season. In the Spanish territory, consumption fell by more than 50% in the first six months of this year, a scenario preceded by one of the worst harvests in almost a century. Given this scenario, Turkey suspended its exports until November, in an attempt to cool the price increase.
Olive oil prices begin to rise and a large part of consumers prefer to eliminate it from their basic purchases, rather than pay its high value.
The pressure in the pockets of consumers began to be felt strongly since October 2022 when Spain, the main producer worldwide, experienced one of the worst droughts in 100 years.
The scenario was so negative that it also affected the production forecasts for the next season. In the 2022-2023 campaign, the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture indicated that production was 54.7% lower than that of the previous season, and estimated that “not even adding the productions of these two bad consecutive campaigns” will the production be reached average of 1.4 million tons that the country normally achieves per season.
“It cannot be that we throw ourselves away, being a country that is a net exporter of olive oil, we throw ourselves away for years selling our product at very low prices and then situations like this occur,” expressed to Europa Press the general secretary of the Coordinator of Organizations of Farmers and Ranchers (COAG), Juan Luis Ávila.
The issue of climate change and the high temperatures that plague the old continent were also the subject of conversation and Ávila explained that it is a panorama that triggers a series of events that end up affecting the common citizen: “The permanent and increasingly frequent droughts are putting producers against the ropes and entail a rise in prices that, logically, does not benefit anyone”.
And it is that experts consulted by this same medium estimate that, although prices are through the roof, in reality farmers are not seeing all the benefits, since they do not have enough product to generate profits and with great difficulty they can meet the demand.
Spain prepares for the third heat wave of summer in the Iberian Peninsula
Türkiye seeks solutions
Olive oil is also a highly consumed product in Turkey and the Ministry of Commerce decided this week to deal with the situation. In that country, the cost of production and the market price of this oil have skyrocketed 102% since June.
With these data, Ankara decided to suspend the export of olive oil until the November harvest season, explaining to farmers that the European drought affects the Turkish domestic market and “they must take action before everything gets worse.”
“The price increase is not only related to the Turkish market or Turkish inflation. There is a balance between supply and demand for olive oil in the world. So this year in Türkiye we had a very good crop; however, in the total supply of olive oil in the world there is a decrease. When they suffer a loss in Spain and Italy, they come to Turkey, so the prices on the Turkish market are also increasing,” said Metin Olken, founder and president of the Friends of Olives Association.
Other factors such as the deep depreciation of the Turkish lira and the global decline in the production of this oil will ultimately determine whether prices fall in this country.
With AP and local media
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