Olive oil prices continue their steady rise and with the highest rates usually paid at the season's end, there's little consensus on how high they'll go.
Spain has been experiencing scarcity in the supply of extra virgin olive oil and its value has increased as a result.
The market has seen harvest delay due to unfavorable weather as well as low olive oil productivity.
According to a recently quoted rate from the Spanish organization El Observatorio de la Federación de Almazaras Infaoliva, commercial agents have been spending €3,649 worth of extra virgin per kilo, €3,548 for virgin oil and €3,472 for lampante oil. Usually, the final transaction values end up being higher which indicate that the value for the extra virgin olive oil in the country is on the verge of reaching €4.
The Sistema de Información de Precios en Origen (POOLred) shows that, overall, activities have been decreasing, with 5,403 tons sold for €3.68 per kilo from the 4th to the 10th of February, compared with 15,224 tons in the prior week.
Figures for the different categories of olive oils include €3.74 per kilo for extra-virgin, which is a slight recovery of 0.44 percent, and €3.55 per kilo for lower quality lampante oils, which are mixed with extra virgin and commercialized as refined, an increase of 2 percent.
Only the virgin oils have suffered a slight 0.25 percent decrease ending at €3.62 per kilo. POOLred has registered 78,700 transactions between oil mills and marketing entities from the 11th to the 17th of February, while the previous month saw a registration total of 60,729,85 tons at €3.42 per kilo.
Spain is not the only country whose olive oil prices are increasing, however, as other European Countries have seen a similar rise prices.
According to ISMAEA, the prices for olive oils in Italy have surged between 19.3 to 58.1 percent in just the past year. Prices kept escalating in Italy in the first weeks of 2017 through February 5, which saw extra virgin olive oils reach €5.85 per kilo.
In Greece, olive oil production has decreased due in part to heat waves in the spring which caused prices for extra virgin olive oils to fluctuate between €3.31 and €3.85 per kilo.
The United Kingdom has been hit with the hardest blow in prices as a result of the collapsing value of the pound that was brought on by Brexit, and olive oil is at the highest levels in seven years.
The International Olive Council said that the prices for extra virgin olive oil in Spain have been increasing at a constant and regular pace in the past weeks with a 10 percent surge that had the price at the end of January at €3.64 per kilo. When the price is compared to the third week of August, which had the highest price value of €4.23 per kilo, the sharp contrast shows a 14 percent decrease.
Records released by the Spain’s Ministry of Agriculture from January 30th to February 5th for oils bought in bulk in different areas in Spain are as follows: €370 per 100 kilos in Badajoz, €369 in Ciudad Real, €364 in Córdoba, €371.75 in Granada, €366.34 in Málaga, €372.27 in Sevilla, €377.50 in Tarragona and €368 in Toledo.
Overall, oil prices are augmenting at a steady rate in Spain, and it remains to be seen what will be the maximum price that the oils reach.
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