Olive oil sales slipping away as prices surge
IT’S become a must-have in our kitchens as Mediterranean cooking — and healthy eating — have soared in popularity.
But now olive oil is slipping from our shopping lists as prices have risen by up to 0 per cent.
Extreme weather, including heatwaves, water shortages and floods across the continent have hit supplies and driven up production costs.
Bosses at one of the world’s biggest brands, Filippo Berio, say UK consumption has fallen by around 1 per cent. At the same time, the proportion of households buying olive oil is down from a high of 8 per cent in 2021 to around 4 per cent today.
The wholesale price has quadrupled in the past four years, while the shelf price in the UK is up by an average of 47.4 per cent in a year.
The average price per litre jumped from £ .41 to £7.86, according to analysis by trade journal The Grocer of data collected by Assosia. At the top end of the market, a litre bottle of Filippo Berio Extra Virgin Olive Oil is an astonishing £13.8 at Tesco – more than many bottles of wine. A 7 cl bottle of Tesco Finest Barossa Shiraz is a tenner, the equivalent of £13.33 per litre.
The prices for olive oil are now so high that in many regions of Spain supermarkets have been chaining five-litre bottles of the oil together and padlocking them to shelves to prevent theft. Concerns about shoplifting have spread to the UK with some stores putting bottles in locked plastic security cases.
Chief executive of Filippo Berio Walter Zanre told The Grocer: ‘The concern is that the consumption isn’t going to come back.’
Mr Zanre said many shoppers appear to have rejected olive oil completely rather than trading down. Sales of cheaper supermarket own-label olive oil are down by more than 20 per cent in a year.