Demand for olive oil in Spain

In Spain, household sales of olive oil are falling, while overall consumption is rising. Feeling the sting of inflation, people have reduced purchases of olive oil. However, with the end of restrictions on covid, the demand from the hotel business has increased.

Purchases of olive oil by households in Spain in the first 10 months of 2022 decreased slightly (by 11%) compared to the same period last year, while the consumption of olive oil in the largest producing country in the world increased slightly. In middle-income families, the consumption of olive oil has decreased most significantly, but at the same time people save less on Extra Virgin than on lower-quality oils. Spaniards still understand their native product. The only exception concerned the sale of olive oil in containers with a volume of more than 5 liters, the demand for which increased by 12%, because consumers who could afford to buy in bulk did so.

Despite the drop in sales in physical terms, the Ministry of Agriculture found that sales in value terms increased by 21% over the same period as a result of significant price increases. According to the National Institute of Statistics of Spain (INE), olive oil prices have increased by 15.7% in 12 months (up to and including October 2022). It is not surprising, because fuel, irrigation water and fertilizers have risen in price by 20% each.

As for the rest of Spain's food industry, new INE data showed that consumers reduced their spending on food by 2.8%, the largest decline of its kind in almost a decade. This is despite the fact that Spain has one of the lowest inflation rates in the EU. In general, the consumption of olive oil at home is slowly but surely growing by 1.7% annually, most likely due to demography. In addition, the hospitality industry is recovering after the pandemic, which is almost a quarter of all oil purchases in the country.