The European Commission has indicated that olive oil production in Spain, the world’s first olive oil producer, could be halved this year compared to last year due to drought.
She said a decline in Spanish production would drive up prices worldwide, with Spain typically providing about 40 percent of global production.
However, heatwaves that occurred during the flowering of the olive trees last spring and severe drought since last summer in Spain, Italy and Portugal, the world’s second and fourth producers, have reduced stocks.
Greece, the third largest producer in the European Union, which has not been affected by these weather conditions, is expected to improve its production, although this is not enough to offset the decline in production in Spain.
“This is a disaster,” said Primitivo Fernandez, president of the Spanish National Oil Spill Association, highlighting the simultaneous drought, economic crisis and war in Ukraine.
The Association of Spanish Olive Oil Exporters (Asoliva) estimates that global olive oil production will fall by at least 10 percent this year, compared to the 3.1 million tons produced in the season ending in 2021.
“Every day that goes by without rain brings worse expectations,” Ducop, Spain’s largest olive oil producer, told Reuters.
Source: Reuters.
