The controversy broke out in Ireland. A Spanish expat recorded a video showing olive oil in a Dublin supermarket being cheaper on shelves in Spain. From there, numerous videos were uploaded to networks in other parts of the continent showing the same thing: bottles of Spanish extra virgin olive oil in supermarkets. Belgium, England or Portugalat a cheaper price than the origin.
Olive oil, the franchise player of the Mediterranean diet, has reached its peak. Especially The world’s largest producer is Spain. A series of cascading factors propelled it to historical highs. And in this chaos, it turns out that other non-producing countries can afford to sell it cheaper. This isn’t a scam, it’s data. So what are the reasons for this imbalance?
El Periódico de España from Prensa Ibérica has prepared a report on the price of ‘liquid gold’ across the Eurozone and in other neighboring countries where olive oil is consumed the most. United Kingdom, Poland and Croatia. By scanning the main supermarkets in each country, we determined which was the cheapest extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) available and compared it to its Spanish equivalent.
It’s a very changing market, changing almost every day. However, at the end of this issue, the cheapest EVOO offer in our country was from the Alcampo chain: a liter bottle of the Maestros de Hojiblanca brand at a price of 8.38. Followed closely by chains Carrefour, Aldi and Lidl (they offer white EVOO brands for 8.49 euros per liter) and Mercadona (8.5 euros).
These figures are far from the prices in other European countries, which are neither oil nor olive producers. There are particularly striking cases, such as white label extra virgin olive oil. Tesco supermarket in Ireland. its price 4.7 euros per liter. Ireland, by far the lowest country on the continent, is a country that does not produce oil or olives. The origin of the oil is Spanish.
The second place of cheapest EVOO in Europe is shared by two neighbors: Belgium and LuxembourgCountries where there are no olive trees or oil mills. In stores, Lidl sells one-litre bottles of the EVOO brand (which shares its distribution structure in both countries) cultivator and Spanish origin 5.99 euros per liter. If we reduce the quality a bit and look at extra virgin olive oil (not extra), we find a liter bottle for 5.09 euros in the same supermarket. Prices not seen in Spain for a long time.
According to the table, there are currently at least 11 countries in the Eurozone where extra virgin olive oil can be purchased cheaper than in Spain. Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, France or Portugal There is cheaper Spanish oil on their shelves than in our supermarkets. counting 13 Croatia or PolandThe European Union and those who are large consumers but do not use our currency. The surprising thing is that, according to the label, most of these bottles come from our country. Carrefour Francefor example, it sells white label EVOO cheaper than others (7.95 euros per liter). Carrefour Spain (8.49).
We also found the highest price in Europe Estonia. Cheapest offer in supermarket in tiny Baltic country Thinselling a half-litre bottle of Borges EVOO 6.59 euros (13.18 per litre). Origin: Spain. The average price in our country (8.45 per liter) is almost as close to the cheapest one (4.7 euros in Ireland).
Keys
What is the reason for this confusion? Is Spain deliberately making its EVOO more expensive for its own citizens? A campaign by national supermarkets? Anyone speculating on olive oil? Do they pay better abroad? EL PERIÓDICO DE ESPAÑA spoke to the main associations of olive oil producers and exporters to try to understand this phenomenon that is hurting the pockets of Spaniards.
“First of all, the decrease in production was huge due to climate problems. The harvest was not even half of the farmers’ expectations. All crops were affected by the 2022 drought, and the blooming olive tree was also affected.” it was gorgeous and the autumn was very dry. It was a disaster in terms of harvest,” he explains to this newspaper. Primitivo Fernández, managing director of Anierac (National Industrial Packaging and Edible Oil Refineries Association).
He goes on to explain the second key: “The farmer’s expenses are equal and inevitable. Pruning, fertilizing, harvesting. All these require energy, diesel, fertilizer, transportation, wages. And all of this has increased. “We have a situation of low production and significant spending,” he summarizes: The summary is that production prices rose sharply in the year of the worst harvest in memory.
“Plastic has also become more expensive. 85-90 percent of the price paid by the consumer for the bottle corresponds to the oil.However, the remaining 10-15% is due to packaging. These are increases that should be assumed no matter what. The farmer cannot sell at a loss. The Food Chain Law itself says this. Even if they wanted to, they couldn’t,” Fernández concludes.
But this This explains why the price has increased. However, this increase would be understandable if it occurred in the same way across the country. But this does not explain why the increase is not reflected in other countries on the continent, which can buy cheaper oil from Granada, Malaga or Jaén.
rotation
We’re talking to do this Rafael Pico, general manager of Asoliva (Spanish Association of Industrial and Commercial Exporters of Olive Oils and Pomace Oils), many times these days, “on the Irish oil issue. So why in Australia? And why in the” United States? And look, I don’t know if the specific case in Ireland was a bottle, a batch, or something else. “But this is a specific situation that can happen anywhere, and there are reasons.”
Pico says the key to understanding these differences lies in the rotation of the shelves: “Spain is a very fast-rotating market for this product, which means having a bottle of oil. It will not be on shelves for more than 15 days. In other countries, olive oil is not consumed this much. “A bottle, a brick or a box of this product can stay on the shelves for more than a year,” he explains.
In other words, “When the market was not so expensive, those oils were bought. They bought them at the then price a long time ago. Since there is not such a consumption habit, the oil stays there for a longer time. They have not gone there yet.” It is affected by a number of factors mentioned; Last year’s weather is the most important and has the most impact” he states.
Origins and labels
“Last year Spanish olive oil production It was 600 thousand tons less than normal. Of the one and a half million produced last year, We increased to approximately 900 thousand tons. This means that the offer has already been committed and has been known since September. So some gathered. Others, such as Australia or Italy, have increased production.” In places like the United Kingdom, for example, “a significant portion of Tunisian oil is allowed in duty-free,” he says.
He also draws attention to an important fact that can be seen in the table prepared by EL PERIÓDICO DE ESPAÑA: Almost all of the businesses offering such cheap oil in Europe are large distribution chains. Aldi, Lidl or Tesco These are some of the names that are repeated in the list. That’s because “some of these brands are so big They can make a one-year deal. That’s why they still operate at the old prices. That’s why they can launch this product at a lower price.”
Pico also recalls: “Countries like Italy buy a lot of Spanish olive oil and label it as Italian brand, because it contains a small amount of oil from there. But they sold better. They brought more prestige than the Spanish brand.” And actually, Italy leads sales only in Germany. In the rest of the world, The export leader continues to be Spain. “Our first customer is Italy, the second is the USA, followed by China, Japan, Australia and Mexico.”
Pico believes that the prestige and strengthening of the Spanish brand will be a good measure for our product. And this price imbalance will tend to equalize again as the shelves of supermarkets in the rest of Europe are emptied of EVOO and forced to start replenishing it, this time at the price that marked the disastrous year of the 2022 drought. .