Drought in Spain, the world's largest olive oil producer, is likely to halve the country's output this year compared with the previous year, official estimates from the European Commission show, pushing prices up.
Spain usually supplies about 40% of the world's output. However, heatwaves when the olive trees were flowering last spring and a severe drought since last summer in Spain and in number two and four producers Italy and Portugal have shrunk stocks.
"It's a catastrophe," said Primitivo Fernandez, head of Spain's National Association of Edible Oil Bottlers, as he highlighted the conjunction of drought, economic crisis and the war in Ukraine. "Every day that goes by without rain, the forecasts get worse," Dcoop, Spain's largest olive oil producers' cooperative, told Reuters.
The price hike was initially triggered by a scarcity of sunflower oil last year after Russia invaded Ukraine. But soaring inflation, costlier fertilisers and the drought continue to push prices upwards.
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