The news leaves Spanish olive oil producers hot under the collar seeing their customer base becoming used to cheaper alternatives such as sunflower oil. Olive oil producers dismayed The news has left many in the World’s largest olive oil producers shocked, as rising prices force consumers to switch to cheaper options. In the first half of 2024, Spaniards bought 107 million litres of olive oil compared to 179 million litres of sunflower oil.
According to the Ministry for Agriculture, only 34% of oil sales used to be the sunflower variety and 64% olive oil. But rocketing olive oil prices have forced many Spaniards to change their palates. Most Read on Euro Weekly News Low yields causing olive oil price hikes When olive oil prices per litre hit near the €10 mark last year, in part due to low yields caused by the drought, many family budgets couldn’t keep up with the increased cost, and so turned to the much cheaper sunflower oil, currently averaging around the €2.
40 per litre, according to Olimerca, an industry publication. World’s biggest supplier of olive oil hit by drought Spain has famously been the World’s biggest supplier of after having overtaken Italy several years ago, but continued drought conditions are causing exports to reduce too, a potentially devastating impact on the in Spain. Spaniards are in danger of losing their number one staple ingredient as prices are leading it to become a luxury most families struggle to put in the shopping basket.
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