Global Olive Oil Production Rebounds 32%
By October 2024 the recovery was no longer a hope but a forecast: global olive-oil production set to climb by nearly a third, after the lowest year in over a decade.
What happened
Global olive-oil production for the 2024/25 crop year was projected at around 3.38 million tonnes — up roughly 32% on the dismal 2023/24, when output had slumped to its lowest in about 12 years. Spain led the rebound, and the wider Mediterranean looked healthier too.
Why it matters
This was the supply-side answer to the whole crisis. After years of shortfall, a big harvest refills reserves and breaks the spiral — and it set up the steep price falls of 2025. The climate threat hasn’t gone away, but 2024/25 was the season the immediate famine eased.
One bumper harvest is a reprieve, not a cure. The underlying squeeze — a warming climate pressing on a concentrated crop — is still there, and the next drought will bite just as hard. The lesson of the decade isn’t “the crisis is over”; it’s that boom and bust is now the norm, and resilience — more producing regions, fairer prices, honest supply — is what actually matters.
Source, October 2024: 2024/25 global production forecasts via the International Olive Council.