Families are cutting back on olive oil consumption due to the endless rise in prices

2023-08-31 10:15:25

Before Julia (fictitious name) went on vacation, white brand olive oil from the supermarket where he works it cost 5 euros. “Haven’t you noticed? It already costs almost 7”, says her colleague, who is amazed that the newcomer has not found out how the price has risen in recent weeks. It is Tuesday August 29 in Barcelona, ​​and on the shelf near which they are talking, there are already bottles that cost almost 10 euros. According to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE), olive oil was sold almost 40% more expensive in July than a year ago, and this increase will, in all probability, have been greater in in August, taking into account that the price at origin has gone from the 7.7 euros per kilo of extra virgin that Infaoliva recorded a month ago (Spanish Federation of Industrial Olive Oil Manufacturers) to the 8.15 euros that marked this same data this Wednesday. And in the face of a similar scenario, consumption has only fallen.

The analysis that updates monthly the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food indicates that in April, the latest report available, Spanish families bought around 12% less olive oil than a year ago. And what sources from the cooperatives and of distribution sector in EL PERIÓDICO, is that the trend has continued in the following months.

“Fundamentally the customer is lowering the volume of consumptionrather than replacing it [per altres olis, com el de gira-sol] is reducing consumption,” he says the president of the olive oil sector of Cooperatives Agroalimentarias de España, Rafael Sánchez de Puerta, which does not hide the seriousness of the matter (last season closed with the worst harvest in years and this year, the outlook is even worse), but it is clear that there is no danger of waste. “There won’t be a lack of product at all, but because of the price, if it wasn’t regulated there would be a risk of shortage,” this expert opines.

Impact of inflation

Up to six establishments of Barcelona of six different chains give him the right: despite the fact that in more than one the oil is protected with alarm to prevent thefts due to the price increase, no one has detected movements that lead to think that the public is collecting to prevent future increases, which has a logical explanation in the eyes of the president of the Agricultural Association of Young Farmers (assaja) of Girona, Martí Clos. “People don’t have money, families make ends meet and can’t invest in 30 liters of oil”, analyzes this agricultural representative, who sees a decantation towards in sunflower oil or that the market ends up concentrating on fewer marks. “What little there is, will be distributed”, he justifies.

“This situation is not good for any of the weakest links in the chain, the first and the last: the olive growers, because we do not have a significant harvest to sell, and the consumer, because he is faced with a price that is not accustomed” , analyzes, for his part, the responsible for Olivar of the Union of Small Farmers and Ranchers (UPA) i oliver to Jaén, Cristóbal Cano. “In the end, there will be a consumer profile for which it will be more and more expensive to purchase olive oil,” he predicts.

In the short term, the forecast of all these polled voices is that the price will soon hit the ceiling. However, the problem pointed out by the various supermarket workers surveyed is that it will hardly return to where it was. More so, when the bottom line is such a difficult issue to resolve as climate change and drought.