It might be a good idea to keep an extra bottle of olive oil stowed away for safekeeping. The prices of the ubiquitous kitchen item are starting to skyrocket because of shortages in Europe.
The shortage of olive oil and produce is the result of years of severe weather fluctuations, with heatwaves and floods across Spain, Italy, and Greece, including searing heat waves that decimated production by as much as half in some places.
Producer prices of olive oil in Spain—the world’s largest producer—have increased by 10% since the same time last year. Production is expected to fall as much as 50% this season, Bloomberg reported, and retail olive-oil prices in Spain are near a seven-year high.
In Italy, prices have gone up by 70%; in Greece, 17%; and in Tunisia, by 18%, according to a report by the International Olive Council. Exacerbating the shortage is world demand. Across the globe, the appetite for olive oil has risen, notably so in China, which saw imports increase by more than 160% in November 2016 from the prior year.
Chase Purdy.
Full story at Yahoo News.
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