Italy, homeland ofextra virgin olive oilis facing a serious production crisis due to the prolonged drought and of heat waves that have hit the country in recent months. The regions southernin particular Puglia, Calabria and Sicily, pillars of national olive production, are those that have suffered the hardest blows. The lack of rain and record temperatures have put the olive groves to the test, drastically reducing the flowering and fruit set of the olives. It is estimated that the olive oil production in Southern Italy is practically halved compared to the previous year. Faced with this critical situation in the South, the regions of Northern and Central Italy have recorded a increase significant increase in production, thanks to more favorable climatic conditions. However, this increase it is not enough to compensate the heavy losses in the South according to Ismea data published by Ansa.
An uncertain future for the Italian olive sector
The most recent estimates indicate a national olive oil production of approximately 224,000 tonswith a decline of 32% compared to the previous year. This production collapse causes Italy to be relegated from second to fifth place between world’s largest producers of olive oilleaving room for other countries such as Spain, Turkey, Tunisia and Greece, which instead expect a 50-60% increase in production.
What they will be the consequences for consumers? The reduction in Italian olive oil production will have inevitable repercussions on the market. A. is expected price increase and greater difficulty in supply, especially with regards to high quality extra virgin oils.
The crisis that the Italian olive sector is going through requires urgent interventions to guarantee the sustainability and competitiveness of the sector. They are necessary investments in research and development to select cultivars more resistant to climate change, promote sustainable agricultural practices and improve the management of water resources.
Generally speaking, as he points out ISMEA in the Trends report, bottlers find themselves dealing with an ever-increasing harvest uncertain and subject to climate change. This provokes many damage to the company economy because supply planning is fundamental for the financial balance of a sector. On top of this is the growing difficulty of producers struggling with epidemics and production drops. Obviously the ones who pay the price are always the ones consumers that they have seen in two years increase prices of the product especially in large-scale retail channels.
