Higher Production in Spain Leads to Lower Prices

Olive oil pro­duc­tion in Spain has increased sig­nif­i­cantly com­pared with for­mer cam­paigns, accord­ing to data released by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, with a total of 1,417,400 tons of oil pro­duced in the month of January.

The total amount of olive oil pro­duced rep­re­sents a 33 per­cent increase with respect to the pre­vi­ous cam­paign and a 36 per­cent aver­age increase in the last four weeks.

According to data released on January 31, the total vol­ume of olives milled was recorded at 7,467,273 tons, with an aver­age out­put of 18.98 per­cent, plac­ing it slightly more than a point below other fig­ures from the same dates of pre­vi­ous cam­paigns. According to the data, the 2018/19 cam­paign sur­passes those of the past by one-third.

In the last three months, sales have increased as well, with 139,700 tons of olive oil mar­keted in January. That quan­tity has allowed the cur­rent cam­paign to reach max­i­mum lev­els, ele­vat­ing the total vol­ume that has been sold to 488,200 tons. This is due to the the increase in demand of the domes­tic mar­ket, as well as increas­ing exports.

The pro­vi­sional data for imports, recorded in the month of January, are esti­mated at 63,400 tons. There has been a 12 per­cent increase of exports in com­par­i­son to the pre­vi­ous cam­paign, with the interim data from January esti­mated at 307,100 tons. This also rep­re­sents a nine per­cent increase in rela­tion to the pre­vi­ous four cam­paigns.

Sales in the domes­tic mar­ket have increased by seven per­cent com­pared to the pre­vi­ous cam­paign and two per­cent com­pared to the pre­ced­ing four cam­paigns.

Meanwhile, the total lead­ing stocks of mills and bot­tling plants in the world’s largest pro­ducer of olive oil has increased to 1,368,200 tons, which is the max­i­mum quan­tity recorded for this month in com­par­i­son to the same month in pre­vi­ous cam­paigns.

The price of olive oil in Spain con­tin­ues to decrease as well, and there has been a 30 per­cent aver­age decrease in mid-February, in com­par­i­son to the same period of the pre­vi­ous year.

The aver­age price for olive oil in Spain is around €2.38 ($2.68) per liter, in con­trast to the €3.70 ($4.59) price that was recorded in February 2018. Refined pomace olive oil had the biggest price decrease, a total drop of 42 per­cent, with the cur­rent price stand­ing at €1.26 ($1.42). Lampante oil and refined oils fol­low with a 33 per­cent decrease, sit­u­at­ing them at €2.20 ($2.47) and €2.50 ($2.81), respec­tively.

Virgin olive oil had one of the low­est price decreases, which fell by 30.8 per­cent and is cur­rently priced at €2.37 ($2.67). Extra vir­gin oil prices decreased by 25 per­cent, falling to €2.68 ($3.01) per liter.

• El Diario


• Valencia Fruits