The price of extra virgin olive oil continues to skyrocket. On some supermarket shelves it already exceeds 10 euros per liter, a figure that curiously contrasts with the sale price in other European countries.
In Ireland, for example, it is much cheaper than in Spain, since it costs 4.70 euros per liter. This was demonstrated by Carlos Cruz, who has been living in Dublin for a year, in a video published on TikTok that has already accumulated more than 500,000 views and that has led other Spaniards to explain on this social network what the price of a liter of olive oil is. extra virgin in the country they reside.
As shown in other videos, in Germany the cheapest bottle costs seven euros, but it is only half a liter; and in France, 5.32 euros per liter. What is the reason that in some European countries it is cheaper than in Spain and in others more expensive?
“It’s rotation,” says Teresa Pérez, Interprofessional Manager of Spanish Olive Oil. And she goes on to clarify: “An Irishman consumes an average of around 700 ml of olive oil a year, while a Spaniard buys an average of about 11.4 liters. In our country the oils have a high turnover, in Ireland they do not.” .
To understand it a little better, the expert gives us another example. “The monthly consumption of extra virgin oil by a Spaniard is the same as the annual consumption by an Irishman,” he explains, pointing out that in Ireland they possibly still have the oil that was purchased at the beginning of the year, which in the country of origin (that is, , in ours) had already reached almost 5 euros. That is, the price will be updated in the next export.
In the case of Germany, however, the average consumption per person of extra virgin olive oil is much higher than in Ireland. “More total volume of extra virgin olive oil is sold, since it is present in more homes. Per capita consumption in this country is 1 kilo a year. And that of France is 2.1 kilos,” Pérez clarifies, pointing out that “the more a market consumes a product, the more it perceives the price rotation”, which is why Germany and France have already noticed the rise in Spanish ‘liquid gold’ in recent exports.
We asked the expert the million-dollar question: Will our extra virgin olive oil continue to rise in price? “In recent days it has become more expensive because we are at the end of the campaign – this runs from October 1 to September 30 – and we are finishing with the oils from the previous year. It is expected that the new campaign will also be short due to the drought, but The rain forecast for this week seems to be easing the tension in the markets. Everything will depend on the harvest, if the volume of oil increases, the price will improve,” he says.
