Olive Oil Hits a 26-Year High
In 2023 the bill finally came due. Years of difficult harvests, capped by a brutal Spanish drought, drove olive oil to its highest price in over a quarter of a century — and ordinary shoppers felt it.
What happened
Spain — which makes close to half the world’s olive oil — was hammered by a multi-year drought and record heat, slashing its crop. With the dominant producer short, world prices climbed to a 26-year high through 2023; in the great growing province of Jaén, extra virgin was reported up over 100% year on year.
Why it happened
This was the culmination of the story that started back in 2014: a warming, more erratic Mediterranean climate colliding with a crop that depends on it. It was not a blip or a conspiracy — just drought, heat, and the brutal arithmetic of a world that leans heavily (though not only) on one sea’s harvest.
Here’s the part to watch when prices spike: fraud rises with them. When real oil costs this much, the temptation to cut it, fake it, or pass off a lesser grade as “extra virgin” balloons — and so do the thefts (whole tankers have gone missing). High prices are exactly when you should be most careful about what’s really in the bottle. The fuller picture is in why olive oil prices spiked.
Sources, 2023: CNBC; The Washington Post.