Sol takes stock of climate change

Climate changes, but also international competition and price competition, duties that do not facilitate the harmonization of markets and the need to improve the visibility and recognizability of olive oil on the different markets. These are the challenges that the olive oil sector must face, according to María Juárez, head of the Economy and Promotion Unit of the International Olive Council (IOC), after a 2023 characterized by a significant drop in production and a consequent marked rebound in prices and «with the forecast also for the current campaign of a 6% cut in production, caused by the concomitance of several factors: asynchronous flowering periods, early harvests due to the advent of some pathologies such as Xylella fastidiosa and phases of drought”.
The changing climate and the influence on the markets is one of the topics addressed at the inaugural conference «The new geography of world oil, between production and consumption», moderated by the journalist Michele Bungaro, of the 28th edition of SOL, International Olive Oil Trade Show , during which the partnership between Veronafiere and the Fundacion de Olivar was announced, an international observatory for monitoring oil production and prices and which constitutes a point of reference for the sector.
“This partnership between Italy and Spain – declared Raul Barbieri, commercial director of Veronafiere – will not only strengthen the ties between two nations that have always been at the heart of the olive industry, but will open up new opportunities for growth and development on an international scale”.
After twenty years of continuous growth, with global olive oil production rising from 1.8 million tonnes in 1992/93 to 3.4 million tonnes in the 2010/2011 olive oil campaign, according to COI data, the fluctuations production have become the norm with five olive oil campaigns in the last ten years at 2.4-2.5 million tonnes and just as many well above 3 million tonnes. The trend in consumption, however, is more linear, having doubled in thirty years and gone from 1.6 million tonnes to 3 million tonnes in the world.
Italy can look to the future scenario with optimism, also because, argued Rossella Cernuto, Senior Analytics Executive of NielsenIQ, “national extra virgin olive oil is indispensable on Italian tables”.