This year, the consumer will have to pay less for his supply olive oil from the supermarket shelves, since according to the first indications this year’s production is expected to be better than that of 2023.

“According to estimates, this year’s olive production will reach between 220-230 thousand tons” said the General Director of SEVITEL, Giorgos Oikonomou, adding that this will result in the normalization of the situation.

In recent years, both Russia’s war with Ukraine, which has driven up commodity prices and siphoned off olive oil, and severe weather conditions, which have reduced olive oil production across the “Mediterranean Basin” to historic lows. prices to the consumer, making “green gold” a luxury item.

As Mr. Economou underlines, this picture is about to change, since productions in all olive-producing countries are returning to “normal” levels.

“Prices will go down”

In fact, according to estimates from industry professionals, this year’s producer prices will be lower than last year. And they point out “when the quantities are almost twice as much as last year, the producer cannot be paid the same price as last year”.

Already, producers are paid about 8 euros per liter, but the same factors note that this momentum will not be maintained.

“The game has one happy and one unhappy. But we have to start looking at the consumer who has difficulty paying for oil at today’s prices”, said SEVITEL’s General Manager to APE-MPE.

And he continues: “we have to let the market play with supply and demand. Last year producer prices exceeded 10 euros and this increase was also passed on to the final consumer.”

This will help bring Greek olive oil back to the table of families. Due to the jump in prices last year, many households chose to replace the traditional virgin olive oil with cheaper sunflower oils, seed oils, etc. In fact, this is not a Greek phenomenon as in Spain and Italy, purely olive-producing countries, consumption fell, just like in our country, by close to 18% to 20%.

This, according to Mr. Oikonomou, “is due to the price increase but also to the changes in the eating habits of Greek consumers” and he added “we will make all the necessary moves to put Greek olive oil on the table again”.

“These must be done in order for the olive oil to gain value”

In order to give additional value to the product, Mr. Oikonomou told the Athenian – Macedonian News Agency that “the consumer should be informed about the benefits that olive oil has on his health”

According to him, the controls should be intensified and the “green gold” should be sold standardized and not in bulk and anonymously which, according to the General Manager of SEVITEL, “is often adulterated”. “If all this is done then the terms of competition and the market will work by themselves” he noted.

And he added “we definitely need a national strategy, mainly for exports and the strengthening of the actions, visibility and promotion of the product” concluding “we all have to contribute in this direction”.