Why Olive Oil Prices Are Higher in Croatia

Summary

Croatian olive oil prices are on the rise, with the aver­age price reach­ing €12.50 per kilo­gram in April 2025, sig­nif­i­cantly higher than the European Union aver­age. Istrian olive oils are often more expen­sive due to fac­tors such as inten­sive man­ual labor, strict qual­ity stan­dards, and lim­ited grow­ing con­di­tions, but con­sumers are will­ing to pay higher prices for pre­mium qual­ity oils.

The lat­est data released by the Croatian Ministry of Agriculture con­firms that olive oil prices in the coun­try are once again on the rise.

According to the ministry’s offi­cial fig­ures, the aver­age price of one liter of extra vir­gin olive oil was €11.40 in April 2025 (approx­i­mately €12.45 per kilo­gram).

In the same month, the min­istry recorded prices rang­ing from €3.96 per kilo­gram in Spain to €9.55 per kilo­gram in Italy.

In April 2025, while the aver­age price in the European Union was €6.13 per kilo­gram, Croatian olive oil reached €12.50 per kilo­gram, 104 per­cent higher. This marks an 18 per­cent increase com­pared to the pre­vi­ous month.

The min­istry also noted that the April 2025 price is nearly iden­ti­cal to the one recorded in April 2024.

After a year of fluc­tu­a­tions, Croatian olive oil prices are ris­ing again, con­tin­u­ing a trend seen in recent years.

On aver­age, the whole­sale price in 2024 was 23 per­cent higher than the pre­vi­ous year, 50 per­cent higher than in 2022 and 73 per­cent higher than in 2021.

In 2020, the aver­age retail price of pack­aged olive oil in Croatia was €5.47 per liter. It rose to €5.75 in 2021, €6.74 in 2022, €8.83 in 2023 and reached €12 in 2024.

According to min­istry graphs, Croatian olive oil has con­sis­tently been priced well above that of other major pro­duc­ing coun­tries in the European Union.

The min­istry attrib­uted this to sev­eral fac­tors, includ­ing grow­ing con­sumer aware­ness of qual­ity prod­ucts.

Other dri­vers include inter­na­tional mar­ket trends and the vol­ume of local olive oil pro­duc­tion. Imports are play­ing an increas­ingly impor­tant role in shap­ing mar­ket prices.

Data from the International Olive Council shows that Croatia has pro­duced an aver­age of almost 4,000 met­ric tons of olive oil annu­ally over the past five years, while yearly con­sump­tion exceeds 8,000 tons.

“There are sev­eral rea­sons why Istrian olive oils are often more expen­sive than many other European olive oils,” Rudolf Nemetschke, man­ag­ing direc­tor at Avistria, an award-win­ning pro­ducer, told Olive Oil Times.

Referring specif­i­cally to Istria, Croatia’s north­west­ern­most region, Nemetschke explained that most pro­duc­ers man­age small, fam­ily-owned plots that require inten­sive man­ual labor and face higher costs.

“Due to topog­ra­phy, mech­a­niza­tion is often lim­ited,” Nemetschke said.

Much Istrian olive oil is pro­duced under European Union Protected Designation of Origin and Protected Geographical Indication cer­ti­fi­ca­tions, which require strict qual­ity stan­dards.

“Istria’s micro­cli­mate, shaped by the Bora wind, sun­shine, lime­stone and red soil, cre­ates ideal con­di­tions for top-qual­ity oils,” Nemetschke said.

“This leads to intense, com­plex fla­vors highly val­ued in the mar­ket. Such unique grow­ing con­di­tions are lim­ited and there­fore more expen­sive,” he added.

Nemetschke also noted that Istrian oils are mainly exported to niche mar­kets, such as gourmet shops and high-end restau­rants, which affects dis­tri­b­u­tion costs.

Another fac­tor is labor. ​“Labor is expen­sive and scarce in Istria, where the boom­ing tourism indus­try has absorbed most of the avail­able work­force,” Nemetschke said.

Although mills in the region now uti­lize advanced equip­ment, these invest­ments are rel­a­tively recent and still impact oper­at­ing costs.

“This might also put some pres­sure on the price level,” Nemetschke said.

Additional chal­lenges are shared with pro­duc­ers across Europe.

“Glass prices have risen dra­mat­i­cally in recent years. The cost of bot­tles has more than dou­bled, and small pro­duc­ers suf­fer most since glass prices are degres­sive,” he said, where the cost per unit decreases as the quan­tity pur­chased increases.

Nemetschke believes that higher prices can influ­ence how con­sumers per­ceive the qual­ity of olive oil.

“Many con­sumers asso­ciate a higher price with bet­ter qual­ity, espe­cially for gourmet or spe­cialty prod­ucts like olive oil,” he said. ​“For Istrian pro­duc­ers, higher prices help posi­tion the oil as a lux­ury or arti­sanal prod­uct.” 

However, high prices can also act as a bar­rier. ​“If pre­mium oils are posi­tioned only as lux­ury items, it might alien­ate aver­age con­sumers who feel excluded from good olive oil,” Nemetschke warned.

“Higher prices can def­i­nitely raise aware­ness, but only if pro­duc­ers com­bine them with smart con­sumer edu­ca­tion,” he added.

This includes trans­par­ent label­ing, fea­tur­ing har­vest date, vari­ety and polyphe­nol con­tent, as well as tast­ings, work­shops and sto­ry­telling about ter­roir, fam­ily pro­duc­tion and awards.

“All of these help con­sumers under­stand why high-qual­ity olive oil costs more, and why it’s worth it,” Nemetschke said.

Tedi Chiavalon, co-owner of the award-win­ning Istrian pro­ducer OPG Chiavalon, noted that mar­ket prices alone rarely offer an accu­rate pic­ture.

“I find the use of the terms ​‘high’ or ​‘low’ price often mis­lead­ing in the olive oil world, because we are rarely com­par­ing prod­ucts of the same cat­e­gory or qual­ity,” Chiavalon said.

He believes the focus should shift from price and ori­gin to the actual qual­ity of the oils.

“Under the ​‘extra vir­gin’ label, the mar­ket offers every­thing from low-grade indus­trial oils to small-batch, early-har­vest arti­sanal oils,” he said.

“Comparing their prices is like com­par­ing a dia­mond to a piece of gravel: both may come from the earth, but they’re fun­da­men­tally dif­fer­ent in value.”

Chiavalon argues that a prod­uct is not over­priced if it sells con­sis­tently.

“A prod­uct becomes ​‘too expen­sive’ only when buy­ers are no longer will­ing to pay for it, and it remains unsold,” he said. ​“In our case, the exact oppo­site is hap­pen­ing: tanks are empty well before the new har­vest. The demand for pre­mium extra vir­gin olive oil con­tin­ues to grow expo­nen­tially, year after year.”

“For con­sumers who seek truth, purity and trace­abil­ity, the price is not a deter­rent. It’s part of the value propo­si­tion,” Chiavalon said. ​“Yes, some may adjust their pur­chas­ing habits, but those com­mit­ted to real food will con­tinue to seek out hon­est oils, even if they cost a lit­tle more. In that sense, price becomes an indi­ca­tor, not a bar­rier.”

Chiavalon said this trend is not lim­ited to Croatia.

“It applies to all gen­uinely crafted, small-batch extra vir­gin olive oils, regard­less of ori­gin,” he said. ​“These oils are becom­ing increas­ingly rare as cli­mate chal­lenges grow and indus­trial pro­duc­tion expands.”

In Chiavalon’s view, the prices of high-qual­ity extra vir­gin olive oils will remain high or rise even more.

“Not because they’re mar­keted as pre­mium, but because they are fun­da­men­tally dif­fer­ent from the mass-mar­ket alter­na­tives they are too often lumped together with,” he con­cluded.