Extra virgin olive oil is selling at the source in Spain for about €3.10 a kilo, the lowest level in five years, as a much bigger 2026/27 harvest pushes prices down just as producers say many are already selling below their own cost of production. Farm groups and cooperatives are now pressing Spain’s government to activate an emergency storage rule that would take a share of this season’s oil off the market, but Agriculture Minister Luis Planas says he wants final harvest numbers before acting.
Why Prices Are Falling So Fast
Spain’s olive harvest is forecast at 1.6 million tonnes this season, roughly 23% more than last year, and the extra supply is arriving just as demand stays flat. Prices across all olive oil categories, including lower-grade lampante oil that must be refined before sale, fell 8.7% in a single month. According to the association of olive-growing towns (AEMO), production costs have climbed 57% since 2021, squeezing margins hardest on rain-fed groves, which cost more to farm and yield less oil per hectare than irrigated plantations. On 8 October, the farming unions ASAJA, COAG and UPA said that extra virgin olive oil, then averaging about €3.30 a kilo, was already selling below what most farms spend to produce it.
A Storage Mandate Still Waiting on a Decision
Cooperatives want Madrid to trigger a rarely used marketing norm that would require Spanish olive mills to hold back a set share of this year’s oil rather than sell it all immediately, easing the glut on the open market. Rafael Sánchez de Puerta, who heads the cooperative sector’s negotiations, said at a technical conference in Ciudad Real that he does not understand the delay in activating the measure. Agriculture Minister Luis Planas called it an extraordinary step that has never been used before and said he wants to see the season’s final harvest figures first; a decision is expected in the first half of November 2026. Supermarket shelf prices have moved far less than wholesale prices so far — Mercadona and Carrefour’s own-label extra virgin olive oils are still priced around €4.34-4.35 a litre, a gap of roughly €1.50 a litre that covers bottling, transport, tax and retail margin. For buyers who source from Tunisian suppliers instead, this kind of swing is a reminder of why diversifying origin matters: if Spain’s storage mandate goes ahead and tightens supply later this season, Tunisia’s own strong 2025/26 harvest and growing export capacity offer a more predictable, origin-verified alternative to lock in now rather than wait out Spain’s price volatility.
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FAQ
Why are Spain’s olive oil prices so low right now? Spain’s olive oil prices have fallen to about €3.10 a kilo at the source, the lowest in five years, because the 2026/27 harvest is forecast at 1.6 million tonnes, about 23% more than last year, while production costs have risen 57% since 2021, leaving many farms selling below cost.
Will Spain force olive mills to store oil instead of selling it? Spanish farm groups have asked the government to activate an emergency marketing norm requiring mills to hold back part of their oil, but Agriculture Minister Luis Planas has not yet approved it, and a decision is expected in the first half of November 2026.
Source: Euro Weekly News
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