The biggest olive oil producer in the world, Deoleo from Spain, says the business needs a “profound transformation” right now because it is going through some tough times. The olive oil business has been hit hard by problems like climate change, high prices, high-interest rates, and rising prices.
Spain has had two years of very high temperatures, which has reduced the amount of olives that can be harvested. This has caused prices to go up, which people have noticed. Spain makes more than 40% of the world’s olive oil, so the price situation could affect a lot of people who want to buy it.
Chief sales officer at Deoleo Miguel Angel Guzman said, “We are living through one of the worst times in the history of our industry.” Prices have gone up a lot because of high-interest rates, strong inflation, and bad predictions for olive oil yield.
People have noticed that the price of extra virgin olive oil went up from about 7.8 euros to 9.2 euros. Since more olives are being grown because of the rain in the spring, the price has started to drop a bit.
Guzman said that they knew the price rise would stop once the harvest yields got back to normal. He also mentioned that they won’t know how much they will gather until it’s time to do so.
Things look like they’re back to normal, but the oil business wants to see changes in innovation, quality, and sustainability “with a focus on the consumer.”
People like Guzman spoke out about how important it is for business to change so that problems like this don’t happen again, especially when it comes to climate change. What could be done to better protect the olive trees? Guzman replied, “The sector has to take the lead, and all the actors that are part of it have to change if we want to lower price volatility and make it more predictable.”