Olive oil price skyrockets as Spain suffers summer droughts for second year | BBC News

BBC NEWS – December 2023

Spain is the world’s biggest olive oil producer, covering 70% of European Union consumption and 45% of that of the entire world. But a lack of rain that olive-producing areas around Spain have been seeing has had an enormous impact on both the amount of oil being produced – and its price.

In Spain, olive oil prices have increased by more than 70% this year alone after a sharp rise in 2022, with one-litre bottle of extra virgin oil currently costing around €9 ($9.88; £7.79). The rise in the price of olive oil in Spain has been echoed across Europe – however in some countries, the increase has not been quite as sharp. A recent trend, for example, has seen Spaniards who live near Portugal crossing the border to buy slightly cheaper oil there.