Olive Oil Market Digest w2

Weekly Olive Oil Market Updates

Price Updates

The mean price movements in the olive oil market last week were as follows, according to data shared by the Union of Olive Oil-Producing Municipalities of Crete, PoolRed, and Ismea Mercati: 

Across the major European producing countries, what we have noticed in the last weeks is the reluctance of farmers to promote their produce down the olive oil supply chain. In some cases, even though consumer demand has dropped significantly, the scarcity of the product rose enough so that there were price increases.

The previous movements have been even more evident in the Lampante olive oil market, with producers refusing to sell even though demand from businesses has surged. The difficulty that the latter face in sourcing olive oil from their existing partners is so high that many operators were willing to rethink their sourcing strategy.

As the implications of turbulence in supply chains can only be cured by having access to a wide supplier network across the globe, many players in the market resorted to Wikifarmer's promise. And this is evident from the surge in requests we have received for olive oil orders in bulk, originating from many countries in Europe and beyond:

Meteorological Uncertainty among Producers Drives their Behavior once again

From multiple discussions between our agents on the field in Spain and producers, we understand that the main drive behind producers' reluctance to sell their olive oil is their fear that final production volumes will be lower than the estimated level of 700,000 MTT. The reasoning justifying this notion is the shift in weather conditions from the recent period of beneficial rainfalls to yet another dry period.

The same holds true for Peruvian producers, who are faced with very negative prospects for their yields; olive oil is not a common element in the dietary habits of domestic consumers, yet it has faced some traction in the market in recent years. This traction has actually been quite measurable, as is also evident from the increasing number of exports that Wikifarmer performs to the south American country.  Some operators even go as far as to say that Peru is becoming an attractive alternative destination for Spanish produce, due to the close political and commercial ties existing between the two countries.

Initiatives for Rural Development in Oil-Producing Areas

We have mentioned multiple times in this series of newsletters that the reliance of producers on a single kind of activity, as well as the lack of modernization of their practices, makes for a significant factor contributing to the volatility they experience in their profits. Under these conditions, they also experience high uncertainty concerning their livelihoods. As a result, younger generations heavily doubt the financial security of venturing into agriculture, so they move to urban centers and pursue other careers.

There are some initiatives taking place, however, that aim at reversing this trend; the most recent one was announced this week in Castilla-La Mancha this week. In more detail, the University of Castilla-La Mancha will carry out research to study the prospect of producing new biodegradable materials from olive pits, which make the majority of waste from oil mills. Should this research prove fruitful, the establishment of relevant processing units could create a lot of high-quality job vacancies, not just for laborers, but also for young professionals of exceptional educational backgrounds in sciences like biology, chemistry, and agronomy.

Wikifarmer negotiates with several suppliers to secure a steady supply of Olive oil at reasonable prices. Our team can help you with price negotiation, pay with credit terms, and arrange logistics and transportation. We also implement strict Quality Assurance procedures, making sure that producers provide us with all certificates that prove their claims about their products, and that all relevant analyses take place. 

Our contribution is not constrained just to the facilitation of value optimization for the various market players. We also invest a lot in making sure that our highly-valued partners, either from the supply or from the demand side, keep up with the latest developments in their fields.

This is why we have created Wikifarmer Academy, in order to offer affordable educational courses to all. The Wikifarmer Academy is an online school that aims to provide complete educational courses that will empower you and help you cultivate more efficiently and sustainably. In case you are interested in learning more, check our new course "Wikifarmer Expert in Sustainable Olive Oil Production, Quality, and Economics" here.