Spain, Italy and Greece, already fighting a financial and economic crisis, are now facing an oil crisis. Olive oil, that is.
The price of the Mediterranean diet staple has plunged to a 10-year low as domestic consumption in the top producing southern European countries has fallen because of the economic crisis. That fall has coincided with a bumper olive crop in Spain, the biggest grower, creating a glut that has forced the EU to intervene to reduce the surplus amid worries about rural incomes.
“The market is in serious crisis,” said Pekka Pesonen, head of the Copa-Cogeca farming union in Brussels. “This crop is vital for the main producing countries in terms of maintaining employment in their rural areas.”