Who doesn’t have a litre (or five) of olive oil in the pantry? Especially since extra virgin olive oil has been connected to a treatment for dementia. But have you noticed a spike in the price of olive oil?
Here’s why it might be time to stock up – and why the outlook is for further price rises.
The issues are the European heatwave, which has suppressed supply from Spanish and Italian producers, plus poor Australian growing conditions.
Australian Olive Association chief executive Michael Southan says about half of the olive oil consumed in Australia is imported.
“We don’t produce enough to meet domestic consumption; we’re roughly producing half of what we consume,” he says.
“We are seeing world record prices, because of the northern hemisphere drought and there is a shortage of olive oil coming out of the big producing countries.”
That’s good news for Aussie oil producers, with higher demand for the domestic product a positive sign for the Australian industry.
Have you noticed a spike in olive oil prices? Do you generally buy Aussie oil or an overseas product?
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