Olive oil prices climbing after heat, drought in Europe leads to poor harvest, shortage

Closeup of olives on branches of trees. (Photo by David Lees/Getty Images) Almost every kitchen in America will pay the price for the intense heat and drought in Europe this past summer.

Olive harvests in key countries fell so short that one trade publication questions if the world will have enough to go around by the end of the year."In Spain, production was down around 50%, which made it the worst year in the past 15," said Jon Davis, chief meteorologist for Everstream Analytics, a supply chain predictive insights and risk analytics company. "The wide-scale drought conditions across Europe, Mediterranean countries, significantly impacted the global supply since approximately 80% of the olive production comes from this area."The CEO of one olive oil producer told the Grocer, a U.K.-based trade publication, that he doubted that Spain had enough supply to cover domestic needs.

He said that he believes there will be no olive oil available by the fourth quarter of 2023.In this aerial view, several workers shake the trees during the olive harvest on November 24, 2022 in Jaen, Spain. (Photo by Carlos Gil/Getty Images) "All the major olive-producing countries were impacted by the drought last year, which is why the situation is so severe," said Davis.He is not sure if the world will run dry of olive oil by the end of the year.

He feels that higher prices dictated by supply and demand will keep some pricey bottles on the shelf at the market."As for the American situation, the first issue is price," said Davis. "Consumer prices have risen 30% to 50% depending upon the area."So far, olive oil market prices have soared since record heat and drought parched major olive-producing countries like Spain, Italy, Tunisia and Portugal.