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canetoad

(17,197 posts)
Fri Apr 26, 2024, 07:17 PM Apr 26

Anyone noticing an olive oil shortage?

I certainly have at all of our supermarkets in town. Even Aldi was without it for months and now has limited supplies at inflated prices - $12 for 1 litre, around $35 for 5 litre tin which from the article below is quite inexpensive. It seems like a global thing. What are your prices like?

Olive oil is getting harder to find and costing as much as 70 per cent more. Here’s why

If you’ve struggled to find a bottle of olive oil at the supermarkets lately or grimaced at the price tag, you’re not imagining it.
Australians looking to pick up their preferred brand of olive oil in recent weeks have periodically faced bare shelves at the shops as smaller harvests from Europe push down the volume of imported olive oil.

“It looks like probably the retailers are having difficulty getting normal supply levels,” said ASX-listed olive oil maker Cobram Estate co-chief executive Sam Beaton, who is eager to reassure consumers that bare shelves are not due to lack of supply on their end.
---------snip
Over the past year and a half, olive oil prices have risen from 22.7 per cent to as much as 70 per cent. Imported products have had the bigger increases: a one-litre bottle of Coles Australian extra virgin olive oil, which in December 2022 was $11, is now $13.50, while Coles’ extra virgin olive oil sourced from Spain has risen from $10 to $17.

https://www.theage.com.au/business/companies/olive-oil-is-getting-harder-to-find-and-costing-as-much-as-70-per-cent-more-here-s-why-20240419-p5fl8g.html
No paywall: https://archive.md/ycfV3
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prodigitalson

(2,441 posts)
1. It's going up in Mediterranean places too
Fri Apr 26, 2024, 07:38 PM
Apr 26

at least what anecdotal stories I've gotten from people Spain, Italy and Turkey

sanatanadharma

(3,740 posts)
2. Climate damage to olive harvests has reduced supply, news has said
Fri Apr 26, 2024, 08:06 PM
Apr 26

Mediterranean growing areas from Portugal to Turkey have suffered heat, drought, fires.
I am glad Uruguay grows olives and bottles decent oil here. Prices are not out of normal inflation here.
Milk is more likely to be missing from the store shelves.

haele

(12,684 posts)
3. I get California grown olive oil, and yes, their prices
Fri Apr 26, 2024, 08:25 PM
Apr 26

Are going up also. I suspect some of the flooding and rain have something to do with it.Olives may not be native, but they're a relatively drought resistant crop and the trees live a long time -possibly centuries - once established, even in semi-drought conditions.

Haele

Hekate

(90,865 posts)
7. California olive oil is very good, but I haven't bought any recently. Parts of the state are very conducive...
Sat Apr 27, 2024, 06:11 AM
Apr 27

…. to growing anything from a Mediterranean climate, and as a result olive groves may still be found wherever Junipero Serra planted his 20 missions.

( I like sautéing things in butter — that’s one reason a bottle of olive oil lasts awhile in my kitchen. )

NanaCat

(1,301 posts)
4. Haven't seen shortages where I am
Sat Apr 27, 2024, 04:38 AM
Apr 27

Prices went high quite a few years before COVID. I vaguely remember a major crop failure that the industry never quite bounced back from, thanks to climate change wreaking havoc with the traditional olive-growing regions.

But I haven't seen supply issues, or unusual price hikes. YMMV

Then again, we don't buy much of it, really, because the taste is so overpowering to my husband and me outside of Mediterranean dishes, where we expect it as part of the flavour profile. The bitterness of olive oil is why we tend to use more avocado and grapeseed oil instead.

DFW

(54,448 posts)
8. Definitely
Sat Apr 27, 2024, 07:37 AM
Apr 27

Both arid conditions plus an olive tree killing disease have drastically reduced production all around the Mediterranean. We usually get 5 liter containers from an orchard outside of Barcelona several times a year. This year, we will get zero because severe climate disruption has brought production down to virtually zero. Our backup sources in Greece have yielded practically zip. I have to run down to Portugal in two weeks, and will see what I can pick up there.

malaise

(269,219 posts)
9. Interesting
Sat Apr 27, 2024, 07:43 AM
Apr 27

I use coconut oil and it is costing more and more. Even coconut water is short these days. Climate change means more drought here and coconut trees need water.

canetoad

(17,197 posts)
10. I haven't noticed a shortage
Sat Apr 27, 2024, 04:20 PM
Apr 27

Of coconut products, but will have a closer look next time I shop.

Here's a warning: I found a container of so-called cholesterol lowering spread in the back of the fridge. It had been there for too long so I decided, with winter coming on, the birds would appreciate a few calories to help them through. They wouldn't touch it! Not the crows, the magpies, the scavenging Indian mynahs or blackbirds. If those feral marauders wont eat an artificial, chemical concoction, then neither will I.

malaise

(269,219 posts)
14. I use no product promising me any miracles.
Sat Apr 27, 2024, 04:35 PM
Apr 27

I eat lots of fruit,veggies and seafood and bird meat. Haven’t touched red meat in decades.

I even eat some sweet when I feel like it.
Exercise and sensible eating for me.

brooklynite

(94,792 posts)
11. Nope. But I don't buy at the supermarket.
Sat Apr 27, 2024, 04:23 PM
Apr 27

I buy Lebanese Olive Oil by the gallon from my Middle Eastern grocery.

Response to canetoad (Original post)

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