Olive oil behemoth Jaencoop announced record-high total revenues for the second consecutive year at its annual general assembly.
The world’s second-largest olive oil-producing cooperative achieved total revenues of €280 million in the 2022 financial year, a 20-percent increase compared to 2021 and €18 million above the sector average.
Chief executive Fernando Córcoles told the assembly that increasing revenues were partially due to a 53-percent rise in sales of Jaencoop’s private brand in Spain and exports to 21 countries on five continents.
See Also:This Mill Makes 200 Tons of Olive Oil In a DayJuana Fernández, Jaencoop’s financial director, said the group’s net worth reached nearly €8 million, reflecting more than 50 percent growth in the past five years.
The general assembly finished with members unanimously endorsing management for the job they did in 2022, which was marked by heat, drought and macroeconomic headwinds.
According to Spain’s Food Information and Control Agency (AICA), olive oil production in Jaén fell to just 177,00 tons in the 2022/23 crop year, the lowest yield since 2012/13. Production in the world’s largest olive oil-producing region usually reaches about 600,000 tons per annum.
“Last year, it rained at the exact moment so that the fruit could have set, but then there was not enough water for the harvest to develop fully, so in the end, what we have seen has been a lot of olives in the mill, but with a very low-fat yield,” Jaencoop president Cristóbal Gallego said at a separate event.
“[For the coming harvest], there are technicians who have already visited some farms and warn that, if the weather conditions do not change, many buds will go to wood,” he added. Producers in Jaén and the rest of Andalusia have told Olive Oil Times that they anticipate another low harvest due to the drought and high springtime temperatures.
Gallego said that he considers the 2022/23 crop year worse than 2012/13 due to more cultivated area, irrigated groves and super-high-density olive groves in Jaén. “Proportionally, it is much worse,” he said.
Gallego warned that despite record-high olive oil prices, which were also attributed to the cooperative’s record revenues, increased production costs meant farmers were earning very little. “What is being paid for the oil does not compensate the farmer,” Gallego added.
The cooperative’s announcement came as DCOOP also reported record olive oil sales during its general assembly in Málaga.
The group, composed of 400 cooperative members, said its total revenue from olive oil sales reached €681 million in 2022.
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