Last year's disastrous olive harvest in Spain and Italy has caused prices to soar. These two countries are responsible for 70% of the global olive oil output. The demand for olive oil by retailers and distributors is higher than producers can deliver.
The upside of this for New Zealand olive oil producers is that there will be less low-grade olive oil dumped on consumers here. Since the NZ Grocery Council rejected the Australia NZ Food Standards Code that applies to olive oil labelling, NZ consumers have been getting ripped off by the European olive oil producers, particularly with Pomace Oil (which is extracted using solvents).
The Europeans misfortune should be to our advantage.
