Source: Oleoscope (Russia)
The inhabitants of Spain, the world’s largest producer of olive oil, are being forced to give it up in favor of sunflower oil. Consumption of olive oil was lower than that of sunflower seeds for the first time this year. The reason for this was a record price increase due to the failed olive harvest. This was reported by the Reuters news agency, citing industry statistics.
According to the national association of edible oil producers ANIERAC, sales of all types of olive oil in Spain fell by 18% to 1.07 million liters in the first half of 2024 compared to the same period last year. At the same time, sales of sunflower oil rose by 25% to 1.79 million liters.
According to statistics from the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, olive oil has always been the most popular oil. In 2023, for example, it accounted for 62% of sales of all edible oils, while sunflower oil accounted for 34%.
“It is clear that the consumption of olive oil in Spain is declining. There are households that used to buy only olive oil, but now they are buying both sunflower and olive oil for the first time,” the agency quotes Primitivo Fernandez, spokesman for ANIERAC, as saying.
Spain, which accounts for around 40 percent of the world’s olive oil production, has suffered two years of prolonged droughts that have spoiled the olive harvest, leading to a record increase in the price of the oils produced from it.
Sunflower oil sold for an average of 1.86 euros ($2.07) per liter in grocery stores last year, while olive oil cost more than 6 euros per liter, an increase of 50% over 2022. Since November, Spanish supermarkets have put protective labels on the bottles of some olive oil brands as prices began to reach 14.5 euros per liter.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture’s report on the evolution of the Spanish food market until 2023, this situation makes olive oil unaffordable for low-income households. It points out that at the end of last year, this product was mainly consumed by the middle class and upper-middle income groups.