Olive oil is expected to be in shorter supply this year, forcing up prices.
The industry has been hit hard by poor harvests in some countries, the drought in Spain and the spread of Xylella fastidiosa bacteria in Italy where more than one million trees so far have been infected.
Spain and Italy are the world’s largest producers of olive oil
The latest harvests will end this month with suppliers warning that the shortage of olives is likely not to be conquered.
Olives are known to have alternate good and bad years but the preceding 2014/2015 season was also poor, leaving no reserve for this year.
This will no doubt end in higher prices for the consumer. Experts in the UK fear that prices rise by 20% in the coming weeks.
The wholesale price of Italian extra virgin olive oil has gone up by 14% and by 20% in Spain.
The International Olive Oil Council forecasts final global production figures for the 2015/16 harvest will be below the average consumption level of the past four years, making price increases inevitable.
The shortage comes at a time when demand continues to increase. It could prove to be a time of greater fraud as producers try to palm off lesser grades as extra virgin.
As it is, no fewer than seven leading companies in Italy are under investigation for selling the inferior quality under extra virgin labels.
Earlier this month Italian officials discovered that some producers were bottling Spanish and Greek oils and labelling them as Italian. Some 2,000 tonnes of oil worth €13 million was impounded. Eight companies are facing charges of fraud and false accounting.
