Compiled 15 November 2024, updated 22 June 2025
In agriculture, not only are we not self-sufficient , but we have missed ‘all possible trains’: that of fruit and vegetables, wheat, milk, tomatoes, and ham.
In 1962 we were the leader in olive production with 1.8 million tonnes produced, Spain trailing us with 1.69 million.
Deoleo 🇪🇸 is the world’s leading producer of olive oil
- is a Madrid-based conglomerate that owns, among others, a number of brands well known to those who frequent our supermarkets
- Bertolli, Carapelli, Sasso, Friol
- the main shareholder is CVC, a large Private Equity fund based in London
Spain produces about 40% of the olive oil we consume in the world
Deoleo recently announced that one of the most difficult moments in the history of the industry could see an end
the prolonged period of unfavourable weather for oil production has come to an end
the 2024-2025 harvest is expected to be a good one in some major producing countries
remember that the price of olives has done 10x ⏫in 4 years
- in 2020 it was below $1/kg
- in early 2024 it was close to $10/kg
- for years the trading range had been $3-6/kg
By 2021 our production had risen to 2.2 million tonnes (22%) compared to the 1960s.
Spain’s, over the years, has risen to 8.2 million tonnes ( 272%!)
Olive oil: producer sales up 9.5 per cent
Production down 6.3% . Very high inflation in 2023: extra virgin at 27.3%.
Mediobanca : [in Italy] “high rate of abandonment [of fields and production], in the lack of a unified strategy and the presence of many producers still tied to a traditional agriculture that has not been modernised”. Repubblica AF 2 September.
Spanish production this year will be about double that of 2023 (Inglobando) while French and Italian production is suffering from climate change, with a sharp reduction in harvests (and imports of fake Italian oil).
In fact, only 45.9 per cent of extra virgin olive oil (EVO) in Italy is domestically produced:
