Photo: Scanpix/LETA. Collage: LA.lv
16:30, 10 January 2024
Homer once called olive oil liquid gold. For Hippocrates, it was the “great healer”. Nowadays, olive oil is used for stewing vegetables or preparing salads, but in the last six months it has again become a luxury for the chosen ones, this topic is reviewed by the portal The Economist.
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In September, olive oil prices hit their highest level since records began, rising 117% year-on-year, according to the International Monetary Fund.
Olive oil is seventeen times its weight in crude oil; In 2019, it was seven times cheaper. Why has the price gone up?
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Olive oil has been a staple of the Mediterranean diet for thousands of years.
As the world has begun to recognize the nutritional health benefits of the region, the world’s appetite for olive oil has grown.
Spain is the world’s largest producer of this product, accounting for almost half of the total annual consumption; followed by Italy and Greece.
Southern Europe’s hot summers and mild winters provide an ideal climate for olive trees. However
increasing demand has coincided with a supply deficit. Prolonged heat waves, drought and extreme weather in recent years have affected crops and oil production.
Last season was particularly bad. It was hot in Spain: April was 5°C warmer than the average for the month in some regions, meaning that the olive groves did not bloom. Summer offered no respite.
According to the Ministry of Environment, a third of the country already suffered a “prolonged drought” in June, which damaged the few olive trees that had blossomed.
Meanwhile, in Italy, where it was also hot, Xylella fastidiosa, a bacterium, was ravaging olive groves. The disease, which is spread by insects, is believed to have been introduced in 2008 by an ornamental plant from Costa Rica. Since then, the bacterium has destroyed an estimated 21 million trees in Italy.
Studies have found that extreme climatic conditions also make olive groves more vulnerable to such disease outbreaks.
As a result, olive oil production in the EU fell by around 40% last year, causing prices to rise.
Two more factors pushed the prices even higher.
First, rising interest rates and rising fertilizer costs reduced farmers’ profits. Second, Turkey, one of the few countries that enjoyed a good olive harvest, banned the export of olive oil in bulk in an attempt to lower domestic prices. This kept prices stable in Turkey but raised them elsewhere.
Reactions to these soaring prices have been sharp. Spain has experienced many olive oil robberies. In August, thieves stole $500,000 from a warehouse in Córdoba province.
State authorities pulled 11 brands of olive oil from supermarket shelves after they were found to be of low quality and unfit for human consumption.
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Next year’s crop looks set to create even more controversy. In September, rain destroyed olive trees in Puglia, southern Italy.
Another drought threatens in Spain. Production volumes in 2024 will be a third smaller than in the last four years, according to the data of the Ministry of Agriculture.
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2024-01-10 14:36:29
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