In short:
Australian olive growers have had a patchy season due to poor weather and impacts from pests.
The shortfall could make the already competitive olive oil market even tighter.
What’s next?
Some olive growers are turning away customers to make their supply last longer.
Australian growers have had a difficult olive season, contributing to a tight olive oil market across the country.
Insects have decimated some olive groves in Victoria and poor weather has also affected growers in South Australia and New South Wales.
With imported olive oil already in limited supply, the poor seasonal results come at a bad time for the industry.
Australian Olive Association chief executive Michael Southan said it had been tough for many growers.
“It is disappointing for a number of growers — they’ve had a bad year,” he said.
“SA has had a bad year, the Hunter Valley had a bad year, but other parts of New South Wales and Victoria have done reasonably well.
“It seems to be just one of those mixed years.”
Could Australia be heading for an olive oil shortage?
Mr Southan said, despite the challenges, there should be enough supply to keep the product on supermarket shelves due to reasonable yields from some of the country’s largest producers.
“Olive oil will certainly be tight in the next 12 months,” he said.
“Luckily for the big producers it has still been a year where there is some production.
“But the biggest impact is still because there’s so little imported olive oil coming into the market.”
Turning away customers
Some Australian olive oil producers are having to turn away customers due to lower yields.
Olive groves at South Australia’s Pendleton Olive Estate were impacted by poor weather early in the season.
As a result, executive director Nick Whiting said the business would have to turn away any new customers over the next year.
“We’ve actually had to put a cap on our current customers to make sure that we can get supply through to the next harvest,” he said.
“It is probably one of the highest demand times that we’ve seen, and unfortunately, we just don’t have the supply to be able to meet those inquiries, which is a little bit frustrating.”
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Will olive oil get more expensive?
In recent years, there have been large price increases for olive oil in supermarkets, especially for imported extra virgin olive oil.
Mr Southan said only time would tell as to whether the tight market would increase prices even further.
“I don’t think we’ll see prices go up more … but you need a crystal ball to really know,” he said.
“We want to see the industry produce good quality oil, but keep it so people will buy it.
“We don’t want to price product out of the market, and I think a lot of producers are aware of that.”
Despite high prices and potentially low supplies, Mr Southan said consumers should not rush out and bulk buy olive oil.
“It is probably the worst thing they could do,” he said.
“What you want to do is ensure your olive oil is fresh, buy it as you consume it.”
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