Buying olive oil is now a somewhat painful experience.
Formerly a larder staple, thrown into the shopping basket with gay abandon, it´s now a purchase which requires some effort.
More time is now spent examining different brands and prices than ever before. Now we have to pay between ten and 15 euros a litre – ouch.
Inflation may have generally been kept under control in Spain, running at around three per cent, but since September 2020, the price of olive oil has increased by 272%. A five litre can will now cost you over 50 euros.
The figures come from Spain’s agriculture ministry.
The country is the world’s leading producer and exporter of olive oil, but a prolonged drought has dramatically reduced yields, hiking the price. Other European producers are in a similar situation.
The Spanish love their olive oil and last year consumed on average six litres per person, compared to 0.4 litres for international consumers, according to the agriculture ministry.
The rise in prices has made some switch to cheaper cooking oils, such as sunflower, not known, unlike olive oil, as a key part of the Mediterranean diet.
To help consumers and producers, the government has now decreed that from Monday (1 July, 2024), there will be no sales tax.
The sales tax had previously been cut from 10% to 5% as part of a government anti-inflation package.
From 1 October, 2024, it will be taxed at 2% until the end of the year. From then on, it will be taxed at 4% and be considered a basic food stuff.
Spanish Treasury Minister María Jesús Montero said the decision reflects “…the importance of olive oil in the Mediterranean diet and a healthy lifestyle.”