Olive oil prices expected to drop after better harvest in Southern Europe

The price of olive oil in the supermarket could drop again. This year's olive harvest in Spain, the world's largest producer of olive oil, appears to be much better than last year's disappointing harvest. Greece is also expecting an increase in olive oil production.

According to a forecast by the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, almost 1.3 million tons of olives are expected to be harvested in the southern European country this year. This would correspond to an increase of 48 percent. This would also allow for a lot of olive oil to be produced.

In Greece, the authorities expect olive oil production to increase from 150,000 to 230,000 tons after the last harvest season. While Spain and Greece are confident that the sector will recover, the crisis continues in Italy. Olive oil production there is likely to be even lower than last year.

According to the German news agency dpa, the positive signals from Spain and Greece appear to have already reached European supermarkets. In Germany, for example, the discounter ALDI lowered the price of its own-brand olive oil from €8.99 to €6.79 and that of organic olive oil from €9.99 to €6.95 at the end of October. All major German supermarkets then followed suit with price reductions.

Olive oil had previously risen sharply in price. It also became much more expensive in the Netherlands than it was a few years ago.