Olive Oil Market Digest w43

Weekly Olive Oil Market Updates

Commercial Transactions for Freshly Produced Greek EVOO

After the Peloponnese region, various agricultural cooperatives in Crete took the lead in selling significant quantities of EVOO of early varieties or from organic cultivations. As the Union of Olive Oil-Producing Municipalities of Crete informs us, the yields are high, and so is the quality, foretelling once again the good season coming for Greek producers. 

Official Forecasts for EVOO Production in Italy

ISMEA Mercati, the Institute of Services for the Agricultural and Food Market of Italy, published yesterday its estimates for the 2023/2024 season. As expected, this year, the Italian production of olive oil has been and will continue to be very difficult due to the adverse meteorological conditions after the last season. A rebound of about 20% in production volumes is expected, yet that is insufficient to cover the losses of the previous season. This estimate rebukes the views of some alarmists preaching about extreme olive oil scarcity, which is why, in the last weeks, we have seen a slight stabilization in the prices of olive oil.    

As the following chart shows, this recovery was possible mainly through the recovery of the South's production levels, with the northern and central regions of the country still suffering: 

Price Updates

Below we are referencing data from the Union of Olive Oil-Producing Municipalities of Crete. The chart below shows the average price for all agricultural cooperatives in Crete and the Peloponnese that answered their weekly survey in in the last 4 weeks (prices for last season's produce): 

Prices are still moving around the levels set in late September when the extreme rises stopped. As EVOO production of the current season is expected to flood the market in the coming weeks, the rises are expected to hold back even more. 

As a reference, we are also referencing data on the mean wholesale price of EVOO in the region of Andalucia, Spain. In Spain, late September marked the beginning of a decrease in olive oil prices, due to the anticipated quality problems that always arise during this period:

Table Olives Join the Game

The harvest season for Kalamon olives has officially started. As expected, due to the adverse weather conditions last winter and spring and in early September, production volumes are very low. In some cases, greek farmers even report that their olive trees are naked of olives. This is going to result in limited supply in the markets, driving their price upwards, given their increasing consumption. 

Apart from the weather, another driving force of table olives scarcity this year will be the unprecedented olive oil prices. As projected months ago, many table olives producers are taking their produce to oil mills that turn them into olive oil and mix them with different olive oil varieties. That is one further danger that B2B buyers of olive oil are facing during this turbulent season.

To help B2B olive oil buyers navigate through these conditions, 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.