By Adam Woodward • Published: 22 Aug 2024 • 10:25 • 1 minute read
Sunflower oil takes over as most popular oil in Spain. Credit: Freepik
Soaring prices of olive oil have meant that it has been toppled from the top spot as Spain’s number one ingredient.
The news leaves Spanish olive oil producers hot under the collar seeing their customer base becoming used to cheaper alternatives such as sunflower oil.
The news has left many in the World’s largest olive oil producers shocked, as rising prices force consumers to switch to cheaper options. In the first half of 2024, Spaniards bought 107 million litres of olive oil compared to 179 million litres of sunflower oil. According to the Ministry for Agriculture, only 34% of oil sales used to be the sunflower variety and 64% olive oil. But rocketing olive oil prices have forced many Spaniards to change their palates.
When olive oil prices per litre hit near the €10 mark last year, in part due to low yields caused by the drought, many family budgets couldn’t keep up with the increased cost, and so turned to the much cheaper sunflower oil, currently averaging around the €2.40 per litre, according to Olimerca, an industry publication.
Spain has famously been the World’s biggest supplier of olive oil after having overtaken Italy several years ago, but continued drought conditions are causing exports to reduce too, a potentially devastating impact on the olive industry in Spain.
Spaniards are in danger of losing their number one staple ingredient as prices are leading it to become a luxury most families struggle to put in the shopping basket.
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Passionate about music, food and the arts. After being completely immersed in the Spanish way of life for 25 years, I now share my knowhow and experience with you.
Trouble is, sunflower oil tastes horrible, I woudn´t put it on a salad and it´s not healthy…so really it´s a very poor alternative
This article does not make sense, Mercadona is lowering prices: https://as.com/actualidad/sociedad/mercadona-entra-en-guerra-rebaja-otra-vez-el-precio-del-aceite-de-oliva-n/
Yes, it’s true. I believe Mercadona announced plans 2 weeks ago to make big cuts to certain key items. The online program is an interesting tool, nonetheless, as it shows the massive swings in prices that consumers can be goaded into paying.
Vegetable oil started off as machine oil until someone decided they could sell it to people to cook with. The graphs show that with the rise of vegetable oils there is a matching rise in diabetes and obesity. I am sticking to Olive oil and now trying not to eat anything with vegetable oils in.
Rapeseed oil is very healthy for you, used a lot in the U.K. before I moved to Spain, it’s low in saturated fats, high in mono and polyunsaturated fats both good for your heart, often vegetable oil bottles on the ingredients say Rapeseed oil, not sure if widely available here ?
Good point. I can’t say I’ve seen much in the way of Rape Seed Oil here. But given that olive oil has dominated the market for so long, It’s not surprising. Maybe it’s the future. (Hmmm, business idea bubbling)
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