2023-09-03 18:26:51
Why thieves are particularly interested in olive oil
Drought, the Ukraine war and speculators are causing the price of olive oil to skyrocket. Top products are particularly affected. Olive farmers therefore have to be particularly careful.
Precious oil is obtained from olives – so precious that it has even become stolen goods.
Photo: Petros Giannakouris (Keystone)
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 arrived at 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 good one 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 has gained such value is partly due to the extreme drought in recent years.
Photo: Petros Giannakouris (Keystone)
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. The stolen goods probably have a market value of around 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 drop of the century, as industry representatives complain.
Jaén in the northeast of the Spanish region of Andalusia is considered the world capital of olive oil.
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
Meanwhile, Spanish Agriculture Minister Luis Planas 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”.
With the rain, the value of olive oil is likely to fall again.
Photo: Petros Giannakouris (Keystone)
He currently does not see any objective reasons for a falling price, however, said Cristóbal Cano, Deputy General Secretary and responsible for olive oil of the Association of Small Farmers of the newspaper “La Vanguardia”. Rather, the industry fears that some consumers would 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 – in the country, of all places, where good “aceite” is already drizzled onto the “tostada” at breakfast.
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