`Olive Oil Prices Soar, Consumption Slides in Latest Report - Olive Oil Times

Olive Oil Prices Soar, Consumption Slides in Latest Report

By Isabel Putinja
Dec. 8, 2014 16:49 UTC

Estimates by the International Olive Council (IOC) point to a 27 per­cent drop in world olive oil pro­duc­tion for the cur­rent 2014/2015 crop year.

The Council’s November 2014 newslet­ter released today reports that olive oil pro­duc­ers in Europe are expected to expe­ri­ence a sig­nif­i­cant 38 per­cent decrease, with Spain and Italy the worst hit, while Greece will expe­ri­ence a dra­matic increase in pro­duc­tion, and Portugal will not see a change com­pared to last year.

Olive oil-pro­duc­ing coun­tries out­side the EU have fared bet­ter, with Tunisia lead­ing, and Jordan, Egypt, Israel, Albania, and Iran also report­ing big­ger yields. Production is expected to be sta­ble in Turkey, Algeria, and Libya, while Morocco, Syria, Lebanon, and Argentina will show a decrease com­pared to the pre­vi­ous crop year.

In response to the sig­nif­i­cant decrease in the global olive out­put, prices for extra vir­gin olive oil have been ris­ing sharply since September. Italy has expe­ri­enced the biggest price rise, peak­ing at €5.86/kg at the end of November, a whop­ping 121 per­cent increase com­pared to a year ear­lier. In Spain, the world’s biggest olive oil pro­ducer, the price rose from €2.74/kg at end of September to €2.93/kg at the end of November, rep­re­sent­ing a 29 per­cent increase from last year.
See Also:Complete Coverage of the 2014 Harvest
In Greece, the cost of extra vir­gin olive oil peaked at 2.96/kg, dur­ing the sec­ond half of November, 23 per­cent more than last year. Meanwhile, prices in Tunisia have increased to €2.88/kg at the end of November, a 24 per­cent rise com­pared to the pre­vi­ous crop year.

As a result of ris­ing olive oil prices and other mar­ket pres­sures, the IOC fore­casts world olive oil con­sump­tion to slide 7 per­cent for the 2014/2015 crop year.


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