Erratic weather conditions, fruit flies and bacteria have caused massive damage to olive crops in Italy, Greece and Spain. Experts say that while production in these countries has plunged to almost 50%, prices are expected to soar and your favourite imported oil will soon be a luxury item.
The olive oil shortage is coming, and it will be much worse than anyone realizes. 2017 will be very bad for olive oil. – Walter Zanre, boss of Filippo Berio UK
Over the past few years we have also seen a growing trend around other specialty oils, such as coconut and avocado, which consumers are more likely to purchase over olive oil as prices increase.
British consumers may soon be forced to pay up to a third more to get their hands on extra virgin olive oil, Zanre warns. Between the bad harvests and ongoing currency volatility around the world, it’s a bad time to be in olive oil, he confesses.
It might be a bad time for European producers, but what does it mean for some of the other olive oil producing regions?
Over the last few years, California has been progressively increasing its olive oil manufacturing, and has implemented strict standards for the oil.
More and more people are aware of the high standards we have and embracing locally produced products. – Patricia Darragh, executive director of the California Olive Oil Council based in Berkeley.
Farmers must go through rigid certification testing by the California Olive Oil Council, including a chemical analysis of the oil as well as a sensory evaluation after every olive harvest. The California Olive Oil Commission, an industry group of olive farmers, created standards the California Department of Food and Agriculture approved in 2014. Good olive oil should smell and taste fresh, the University of California, Davis Olive Center suggests, and should have fruity notes but may also be bitter or spicy.
Similar to California, the olive oil produced and certified in South Africa, is also of very high standards and could surpass many of the well known Italian olive oil brands in quality.
Despite all the scandal surrounding the many cases of olive oil in Europe, the stereotype that European olive oil is the best quality is still very much alive. Although, with the escalation in price of olive oils from Greece, Italy and Spain, will consumers soon be looking at olive oils from the lesser known producing regions, like that of our very own country?
Historically, it has been difficult to market California olive oil because of higher cost of producing it versus what the exports were able to sell it for. But with the adverse publicity about European oil, there has been more interest in California olive oil. – John Mesrobian, a partner at The Mill at Kings River, an olive oil mill in Sanger, Calif
Could countries like California and South Africa get the acknowledgement that they deserve due to the olive oil crisis, and how could this affect production and import?
Sources:
http://theweek.com/speedreads/682695/olive-oil-becoming-luxury
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/02/12/olive-oil-crisis-looms-poor-harvests-set-cut-yields/
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