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After 7 years of relative price stability, a bad harvest last year and an even worse harvest this year have caused prices of extra virgin olive oil to soar worldwide. They began rising quickly last winter, but EVGE did not raise prices in line with the market as our stock was from the previous harvest (21-22) before the crisis hit. The new harvest we just received cost us a little more than double, but paradoxically, is the best quality ever! However, we had to raise the prices as our previous prices were below the cost of the new harvest (!) And we have only raised them according to our increased cost–not by the margin percentage, which is why our price is still better than lesser quality EVOOs.
The current crisis was triggered by mass olive oil farming practices (as outlined below), which never produced quality EVOO like traditional, small batch farming does–where the trees and soil are treated with respect. The future seems bleak indeed for the mass producers. Fortunately, the olive groves that produce EVGE have not suffered at all during the extreme climatic conditions of the past two years because they are cultivated the right way.
The price increase is global. “Since the International Monetary Fund began tracking global olive oil prices in 1990, there has never been a steeper price increase than the one experienced over the past 12 months.” source
In 2022, a severe drought in Spain (the world’s largest producer of the extra virgin variety) triggered prices of olive oil to jump by more than 80%. In 2023, Mediterranean oil production was down by 41%, which means prices for the 2024 export season are expected to rise even more, and are not likely to fall any time soon, making the market even more attractive to criminals.source
Harvest, best by date and International Olive Council (IOC) regulations
Olive harvests are always in the late autumn, November-December (in the northern hemisphere), so this year’s harvest would be 23-24 and last year’s, 22-23 and so on. Freshly pressed olive is stored in stainless steel vacuum sealed containers until it is bottled–and must be chemically analyzed at the time of bottling to carry the extra virgin label (acidity under .08–ours is .02). The IOC stipulates that best by dates cannot exceed 18 months after bottling in the EU and 2 years everywhere else in the world. However, inspection of what is actually on the shelves in the US is non-existent (unlike Greece). In my local research, I found many examples of 21-22 harvest with best by dates 3- 4 years later (I even saw a 2019-20 harvest) And this was on the very few bottles that did print the harvest date–who knows how old the oil is in the other “evoo” bottles without the date.
Photos above taken at Columbia, SC grocery stores February 2, 2024
Weather extremes–unprecedented drought, heat waves, severe storms, pests–infestations of the olive fruit fly, labor shortages and a 64% increase in production costs since 2020 triggered by global inflation. source
Culpability of massive olive farming
Mass olive farming is also very much to blame in this current crisis. “Since the rise of global demand for EVOO in the 1980s and 1990s, olive oil has become dominated by big companies that intensively blend products from giant industrial farms “super high density” cultivation. Many of them are based in Andalucia, a region that provides 30%-50% of global supply all by itself. These farms, and other intensive crops, have destroyed regional ecosystems through intense chemical agriculture, making their landscapes highly vulnerable to climate change.
Megadroughts and local heat waves have devastated supply in these key regions, driving up global prices to 30-year highs. No one in the industry has seen anything like it. The land couldn’t support this massive increase in nutrient and water demand, but this didn’t matter; artificial fertilizer would provide the nutrients, and local aquifers the irrigation. Water tables collapsed, with chemical runoff poisoning the water that was left. Grasses, shrubs and soil were replaced by bare, hard-packed dirt surrounding kilometers-long rows of trees, raising ground temperatures and eradicating animal, insect, and bird life.” source
Exposing fraudulent practices
However, as the global reserves are being depleted, the mass producers are having to raise their price in line with the price at the olive mills. And the good news is that this crisis is finally exposing the deceptive nature of mass produced EVOO on grocery store shelves and at restaurant wholesalers.
EVGE is unique because it is single estate, small batch and we know exactly where it comes from (and have visited trees), gold medal winning, high in polyphenols & low acidity (see the chemical analysis documents above). The quality is most obviously noted in the smooth and delicious taste as well as the aroma from the bottle. But also anything cooked in high quality EVOO is more delicious (smoke point of low acidity EVOO is about 410F). The choice of oil is the MOST important decision in cooking because its flavor and nutritional qualities permeate the entire dish.
EVGE: available at www.evge.us
Restaurant distributors:
North Carolina: Freshlist
South Carolina: Senn Brothers Produce
Georgia: What Chefs Want , Savannah (formerly N’Laws Foods)
Or contact Carol@evge.us OR 803-445-8545
