Catalonian Producers Warn of Worst Season in 15 Years

Summary

The Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives of Catalonia warns that olive oil pro­duc­tion for the 2022 – 2023 sea­son could drop to 16,000 tons, mak­ing it the worst sea­son in 15 years due to unfa­vor­able mete­o­ro­log­i­cal con­di­tions and increased costs. The FCAC has requested an urgent meet­ing with the Department of Climate Action to address the sit­u­a­tion and avoid a sub­stan­tial increase in con­sumer prices, with some indi­vid­ual areas in Catalonia expect­ing even larger pro­duc­tion declines of up to 80 per­cent.

The Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives of Catalonia (FCAC) warns that olive oil pro­duc­tion for the 2022 – 2023 sea­son could fall to 16,000 tons, far lower than the aver­age of 31,000 tons for the region.

If the fore­cast proves accu­rate, it would make it the worst sea­son in 15 years, with an almost 25 per­cent lower out­put than the 20,600 tons pro­duced in the 2018/19 sea­son, the pre­vi­ous record low. If pro­duc­tion reaches 16,000 tons, the results would be even lower than the pre­vi­ous fore­cast of 19,000 tons made in September.

Antoni Galceran, head of olive oil at the FCAC, explained that ​“the drought with which we’re bur­dened after two con­sec­u­tive years of rain­fall deficit, aggra­vated by the heat waves that fol­lowed each other since May, and the heavy frosts of April, has led to a his­toric fall in the olive oil har­vest, 50 per­cent lower than the aver­age in Catalonia, that has severely affected rain­fed areas.”

In addi­tion to per­sis­tently unfa­vor­able mete­o­ro­log­i­cal con­di­tions, the drop in pro­duc­tion has been aggra­vated over the past year by increased mate­ri­als and energy costs, qua­dru­pling in twelve months.

The FCAC has requested an urgent meet­ing with the Department of Climate Action. According to Galceran, ​“expec­ta­tions are not good, and […] it is nec­es­sary to estab­lish mea­sures to address the sit­u­a­tion suf­fered by coop­er­a­tives in the olive oil sec­tor today in order to avoid the sub­stan­tial increase in con­sumer prices towards which we see our­selves head­ing.”

Throughout 2022, the con­sumer price of olive oil in Spain rose a stag­ger­ing 50 per­cent. Extra vir­gin olive oils con­tinue show­ing record-break­ing weekly increases dur­ing the first few weeks of 2023.

Though the pro­duc­tion drop is fore­cast to be 25 per­cent across Catalonia, sev­eral indi­vid­ual areas are expected to suf­fer even worse declines.

In Baix Ebre and Montsià, out­put could be as low as 4,500 tons, an 80 per­cent reduc­tion from the aver­age. In Lleida (Garrigues and Segrià), the drop is fore­cast at approx­i­mately 50 per­cent (6,000 tons), and in the pro­duc­ing areas of Tarragona, the sit­u­a­tion is vari­able. In the provinces of Barcelona and Girona, around 1,000 tons are expected, 33 per­cent less than aver­age.

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