Prices for extra virgin olive oil are at record highs, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
According to the IMF, the price of olive oil reached $6269.63 per ton in April, 46% higher than a year earlier.
New Jersey-based Filippo Berio, one of the world’s largest olive oil producers, said last season was “record-breakingly difficult” because the olive crop was the lowest in 30 years, writes Barron’s.
Last year’s drought in Spain, which accounts for about 40% of global production of olive oil, also contributed to the price increase. The summer of 2022 in Spain was a record hot and one of the driest in history.
According to the March forecast of the Ministry of Agriculture of Spain, the olive harvest in the current season will produce only about 680 thousand tons of olive oil at an average of 1.37 million tons over the past five years, the publication Olive Oil Times.
Spain has turned to the European Union for emergency resources to help farmers. In Italy, olive harvests are also a cause for concern.
Studies by Spanish and Portuguese scientists show that climate change could seriously hamper olive cultivation in key production regions, Barron’s notes.
