The strong rate increases still do not solve the problems that families have when they go to the supermarket. The price of flour, sugar, oil… continues to be a real headache for them. Despite the rains that have occurred during the month of September and the abundant rainfall that meteorologists predict will occur throughout the fall, the olive sector believes that no major variations in prices will be noticed during the month. next year.
”In the event that the most positive forecasts are met, production will increase, however, the problem in prices is difficult to solve in the next campaign” points out Rafael Pico, director of Asoliva, Association of Oil Exporters. Olive. The 2022-2023 campaign will close with a total amount of 1.3 million tons to market. Of this amount, 664,000 correspond to the national production of the year, 450,000 to the stock of the 21-22 campaign and 200,000 to imports. Rafael Pico assures La Información that if the estimates regarding rainfall are met, the same final result would be achieved. The rains would improve production to almost 900,000 tons and imports will be maintained, but the stock from the previous season will be reduced by half.
In this way we can begin to talk about reaching a point of balance between supply and demand. The Exporters Association explains that it is difficult for changes to occur in the price at origin. A new year with the same production, which is where they are heading in the best of circumstances, and with the same demand, since at this time extra virgin consumers are less and less sensitive to changes, makes it difficult to reduce prices. Despite the positivism that Nadia Calviño showed last Monday, stating that the autumn rains would improve the situation, the sector is much more cautious.
Primitivo Fernández, director of the National Association of Packagers and Refiners, is also cautious. He indicates that with these rains there will not be a great harvest either since the olive trees barely have olives. In addition, he emphasizes the way in which rainfall will occur since what we are experiencing in recent weeks are Danas that destroy a lot of crops. ”Storms are needed and they need to last for a regular period of time in Spain,” he says.
According to an analysis by the consumer organization OCU, consumers have paid 15.4% for extra virgin olive oil during the month of August. The average value per liter has gone from 8.16 euros to 9.42 and, in some brands, it even exceeds 12 euros. However, Luis Planas has admitted that the door has been opened to a more positive evolution of the prices of this key good for the Mediterranean diet and affirms that if there are improvements in the production of olives and also their oil, the rates will be reduced.
In statements to the sixth last Monday, the first vice president of the acting Government defended that the price of oil worries families more than that of fuel. However, sources consulted in the sector explain that the comparison made by Calviño is not real since, according to data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, in Spain the consumption of olive oil in 2022 represented an expense of 14.07 euros per person, while in fuel it was 868.46 euros, as stated in the report from the platform specialized in the sector Confused.com.
