Olive Oil Market Digest w13

Weekly Olive Oil Market Updates

Price Updates

We used data from the most recent olive oil transactions on the Wikifarmer Marketplace, as well as data shared by the Union of Olive Oil-Producing Municipalities of Crete, PoolRed, and Ismea Mercati, in order to outline the movements of mean olive oil prices across the major olive oil-producing countries in the EU. We use specific acidity profiles as points of reference: for EVOO, it is 0.5; for virgin, it is 1.2; and for lampante, it is 5.

Following the trend that was initiated in approximately the last two weeks, prices in the Spanish market are continuing to drop across all major olive oil categories. The reason is the continuation up to the previous week of a short period of satisfactory rainfall. The rains have stopped by now, and temperature rises are expected. These developments set up favorable conditions for the beginning of the olive trees' flowering, foreshadowing a promising start for the next season. 

This has alerted some suppliers, who fear that the prices they will be able to reap before the start of the next season could be significantly lower than the current status quo. As a result, they have started selling their product at a higher pace. Also, we are traversing through the period of the year where various oil mills are in need of liquidity, so they are more eager to sell. All these factors have assisted the current price movements domestically.

The situation in the Greek market is rather similar, with some lampante oil offerings being the exception and showing slight increases in the week that passed.

Following its Mediterranean counterparts, this week the Italian olive oil market also showed a bearish turn.

Short Overview of Latest Updates from Spain

The harvesting season in Italy has concluded, with the single most productive region of the country being Apulia, which accounted for 5.31% of the nation's total olive oil production. A significant year-on-year decrease in the stock of olive oil is observed in Italy, spanning all major olive oil categories; as a point of reference, EVOO stocks have fallen by 14.1%.

As we have analyzed multiple times in this email series, this was the most frequent case across olive oil-producing countries, with the total reduction in the global olive oil output levels being estimated at around 6%. Regional differences were, of course, observed, with Moroccan and Tunisian harvests being worse than last season's, while Turkey showed an annual increase of 62%. These numbers are in accordance with the forecasts we showed at the beginning of this series (reference).

Defying the adversities of this season and the price hikes that have dominated agricultural news reports in the last year, there is a lot of room for the expansion of the olive oil sector. Our experts have been reporting back to us all across the season that consumer demand for the product is very robust across Europe  -especially in Mediterranean countries- where consumers know the benefits of olive oil consumption, and this has started showing in the number published by respected industry sources. Apart from this, we are also observing the expansion of the olive oil market toward countries where the benefits of this natural medicine are only now starting to be recognized, like the financially attractive market of Belgium.

Even so, consumption is expected to increase due to the reduction of VAT on olive oil to 0% in April. We forecast that this measure implemented by the Spanish government will cause a decrease in retail prices of olive oil, posing as a good incentive for B2C operators to compete more. The previous could result in an even worse situation for carryover stocks, triggering complex market movements before the beginning of the next harvest season.

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.