Olive oil continues to increase in price despite lower source costs

The Facua-Consumidores en Acción consumer body has carried out an analysis on the evolution of the price of olive oil both at origin and at points of sale in the first months of 2024. The price of this product in large supermarkets and hypermarkets has continued to increase over that time, despite the fact that it has been declining for 12 consecutive weeks at origin.

The association is still waiting for the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumption and Agenda 2030 to advance in the investigation that began last February on the increases in margins on food with reduced IVA, a practice prohibited since the legally binding initiative entered into force in January 2023.

Between April 8 and 14, the last week in which the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has offered data, the litre of extra virgin was paid at source at 6.88 euro before taxes, while in the first week In January it was 8.09 euro/litre. Therefore, in the middle of this month the farmer received 1.21 euro less per litre than at the beginning of the year.

This downward trend in origin is also seen in virgin olive oil. In January the farmer was paid 7.35 euro per litre, while in the second week of April its price was 6.21 euro/litre (1.14 euro less).

In April, the average price of a litre plastic bottle of extra virgin olive oil in supermarkets was 13.45 euro. For this calculation, around thirty prices have been taken into account, recorded during the first week of this month, for sale in Mercadona, Día, Hipercor, Alcampo, Eroski and Carrefour. The average per litre of extra virgin olive oil at the beginning of January was 12.92 euro, 0.53 euros less than in April.

In this type of packaging, a price increase of 4.1% has been recorded so far in 2024. Among the 30 oils collected in this study, the most expensive product is the litre of Carbonell brand extra virgin arbequina and hojiblanca in Hipercor, where it costs 15.99 euro.

This increase in price is also reflected in extra virgin in five-litre bottles. The average price for this type of packaging was 56.50 euro at the beginning of January, while in April it stood at 59.37 euro. The average increase in this format during the first quarter of 2024 has been 5.1% (2.87 euro more per bottle).

In this study, a dozen five-litre bottles of extra virgin for sale in Hipercor, Alcampo, Eroski and Carrefour have been taken into account. The most expensive brand among those analysed is Maestros de Hojiblanca, on sale at Hipercor for 65.89 euro.

Olive oil leads the year-on-year increase in food with an average increase of 69.1%. The product that became most expensive between April 2023 and April 2024 was the litre of Koipe brand extra virgin at Eroski, where it went from being on sale at 5.75 euro to costing 15.89 euro (176% more).