Food price | Minister Planas rules out that there will be a “shortage” of food due to the drought

2023-09-02 15:57:26

Climate change has been affecting the diet of Spaniards for some time. However, at the end of the summer in which four heat waves have been experienced, it has become more evident. The drought has triggered food prices in the face of poor harvests. However the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food acting, Luis Planas, has ruled out that there will be a “famine” of food, although he admits that the cost of food is “excessive”.

“You have to make things clear, the supply is assured, now and in the immediate future“, Planas has sentenced in an interview on Antena3 carried out this Saturday. The minister recalled that, as happened during the pandemic or the start of the war in Ukraine, he has ensured that there will be products in supermarkets. Even so, has recognized that there are currently “consequences of the drought that have decreased production. ” In this sense, he has summarized that “There are higher prices, but of course there will be a shortage“.

Olive oil is in the center of attention. According to the data of the Statistics National Institute (INE), olive oil was already selling almost 40% more expensive in July than a year ago, and now it has gone from the 7.7 euros per kilo of extra virgin that it registered a month ago Infaoliva (Spanish Federation of Industrial Manufacturers of Olive Oil) at 8.15 euros that marked this same data this Wednesday. “She has risen excessively,” Planas has pointed out.

However, the minister has assured that olive growers are not happy with these prices either, but that the drought has forced them to have to raise the price, given the low harvest this year. “This is a supply and demand relationship that is there and where the climate factor is fundamental”, has continued. In this regard, Planas has pointed to the need to fight climate change and “try to avoid this increase in temperatures.”

On the other hand, he said, it is necessary to adapt to climate change itself and study “how to better use water and how to perform in a more productive way.” Of all this, he explained, it will be what he talks about in the coming days with his counterparts in the Informal Meeting of Ministers (RIM) of Agriculture of the European Union (EU) to be held in Córdoba, within the framework of the Spanish Presidency of the EU.