50,000 liters of the finest olive oil, you don’t just put them in a pocket like jewels or cash. So where are the 50,000 liters of oil? Investigators from the Guardia Civil in Andalusia are currently asking themselves. One thing is certain: the oil was stolen from a producer in the 2,500-strong town of Carcabuey near Córdoba. Apparently, the thieves knew exactly what they were doing when they approached the manufacturer’s warehouse at dawn, unerringly switched off the alarm system, chose the most expensive product with the “extra virgin” quality level and professionally pumped out the tanks with hoses.
Now the victim asks his colleagues from the area for information: The thieves are probably on the road with several tankers, which should be noticed. Especially since every oil transport must be provided with certificates and seals. On the other hand, a million tons of olive oil are produced and shipped in Andalusia in normal years, so 50,000 liters can slip through unnoticed.
The fact that olive oil is being stolen also has an economic background: the price has skyrocketed in recent months, especially for high-quality oil. In retail, a liter of the best category already costs more than ten euros – more than three times as much as a year ago. In July, the price was a good seven euros. The stolen goods just now have a market value of half a million euros.
There are several reasons for the rapid rise in prices, the most important being the extreme drought on the Iberian Peninsula over the past two years. The quantity produced has almost halved this year. While Spain produces a good 1.3 million tons of olive oil in normal years, it was just 660,000 tons for the 2022/23 harvest – a slump of the century, as industry representatives complain.
Cooperatives in Jaén in Andalusia, the world capital of olive oil, fear a loss in sales of one billion euros, because the increased end consumer price does not reach the manufacturer one-to-one. Added to this is the general inflation in food prices and the Russian war against Ukraine: the sunflower oil usually exported from there became scarce and in many places replaced with olive oil. Politicians and producers in Spain are now complaining that speculators are also up to mischief in retail. The current retail price is also artificially inflated in part.
The rain could bring prices down again
Spanish Agriculture Minister Luis Planas, meanwhile, is trying to be optimistic: If it finally rains again in the coming weeks, the price of olive oil will plummet, he told the newspaper El País. Cristóbal Cano, deputy general secretary and responsible for olive oil at the Union of Small Farmers (UPA), told the newspaper that he doesn’t see any objective reasons for the price to drop at the moment La Vanguardia. Rather, the industry fears that some consumers will switch to other, cheaper edible oils in the long term, possibly to products made from coconut, soy or rapeseed.
In any case, good olive oil has become a luxury good that is hardly affordable for many Spanish households – of all places in the country where you can get good olive oil aceite already for breakfast on the tostada trickles.