Spanish drought causes olive oil price increase

It has been bone dry in the southern parts of Spain for years, although this drought is also becoming an increasing problem in the rest of the Mediterranean area. Olive trees can generally cope well with these conditions, but the last few years have been extremely dry.

This continuing lack of precipitation is now also threatening the olive. Olive trees that are affected by drought initially produce somewhat smaller olives, from which of course less olive oil can be pressed. However, if these conditions become even more negative, the olive tree will eventually give up: it will produce no or hardly any olives.

The year 2023 has already started badly in Spain. Since January, it has hardly rained in Andalucia, the southernmost region of the country. The month of April showed the same picture with only a quarter of the normal amount of precipitation. Reservoirs are registering their lowest water levels in living memory. If the weather conditions do not improve soon, Spanish farmers are predicting a catastrophic year.

Spain produces around 50% of all olive oil in the world, with an export value of around €3 billion. In 2021 and 2022, that production was already less than half of what people were normally used to. The country therefore sees a bleak future.

But Spanish olive oil suppliers have been selling much more olive oil than the country itself produces for years . These extra quantities are (mainly) imported from Tunisia, but there too people are increasingly suffering from this long-term drought. The inevitable result of these extreme conditions is that less olive oil

is produced in almost all countries around the Mediterranean . The economic laws of supply and demand then ensure an inevitable sharp increase in the global price of olive oil. Our advice is: Buy your extra virgin olive oil quickly before they too are forced to adjust their prices.