The supply of olive oil from the supermarket shelves will cost the consumer less this year, since according to the first indications, this year’s production is expected to be better than 2023.
“According to estimates, this year’s olive production will reach between 220-230 thousand tons,” SEVITEL General Manager George Oikonomou told the Athenian-Macedonian News Agency, adding that the normalization of the situation will result in something like this.
In recent years, both Russia’s war with Ukraine, which has driven up commodity prices and siphoned off olive oil, and harsh weather conditions, which reduced olive oil production throughout the “Mediterranean Basin” to historic lows for the consumer, making “. green gold” a luxury item.
As Mr. Economou emphasizes, this picture is about to change, since productions in all olive-producing countries are returning to “normal levels”.
“Prices will go down”
In fact, according to estimates from industry professionals, this year’s producer prices will be lower than last year. And they point out that “when the quantities are almost twice as high as last year, it is not possible to pay the same price to the producer as last year”.
Already, producers are paid around €8 per litre, but the same factors suggest that this momentum will not be maintained.
“The game has one happy and one unhappy. But we have to start looking at the consumer who has difficulty paying for oil at today’s prices”, said the General Manager of SEVItel to APE-MPE.
And he continues: “we have to let the market play with supply and demand. Last year producer prices exceeded 10 euros and this increase was also passed on to the final consumer.”
This will help bring Greek olive oil back to the family table. Due to the spike in prices last year, many families chose to replace the traditional virgin olive oil with sunflower oils, seed oils, etc. In fact, this is not a Greek phenomenon as in Spain and Italy, countries that produce only olives, consumption fell, just like in our country, by almost 18% to 20%.
This, according to Mr. Oikonomou, “is due to the price increase but also to the changes in the eating habits of Greek consumers” and he said “we will take all the necessary measures to put Greek olive oil back on the table “.
“These must be done for the olive oil to gain value”
In order to add value to the product, Mr. Oikonomou told the Athens-Macedonia News Agency that “the consumer should be informed about the health benefits of olive oil”
According to him, the controls should be tightened and the “green gold” should be sold in a standardized way and not in bulk and anonymously which, according to SEVITEL’s General Manager, is “often corrupt”. “If all this is done then the terms of competition and the market will work themselves” he noted.
And he said “we definitely need a national strategy, mainly for exports and the strengthening of activities, visibility and promotion of the product” concluding “we all have to contribute in this direction”.
Source: RES-MPE
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