I share with the readers of Olive News the question posed by Juan Penamil, head of the Spanish publishing group Mercacei with whom we have been collaborating for some time, adapting it to Italian figures. “Can a product for which we each spend 22 cents a day be considered luxury?” And that is, to be clear, six times less than a coffee?
The answer dictated by common sense can only be: “certainly not!” Why, then, does a certain generalist press, which only a few weeks ago noticed the dizzying increase in prices, find nothing other than to now consider it a luxury to consume olive oil, inevitably triggering in the consumer - who is already doubtful of his - the driven to move towards other vegetable oils?
Ismea analyst Tiziana Sarnari was very clear in her speech given in recent days in Agrilevante, at the Bari fair: “Per capita oil consumption has fallen from 10 to 8,2 liters per year” in front of a price of olive oil which is exactly doubled, moving to the shelf from 4,5 to 9 euros per litre.
Mind you, producing Italy 250 thousand tons of olive oil of medium and consuming exactly double it, it is clear that on the price of large-scale retail trade affect the foreign oil, which has undergone a notable increase dictated by the sharp drop in production, especially in Spain, the market where we Italians source our supplies.
But let's stop for a moment Italian produzione (net of 35% self-consumption produced by companies that have less than 1,5 hectares) which, the Ismea analyst reminds us, is unfortunately tending to decline, with an average of the last 4 years lower than the average of the previous ten years.
Well 100% Italian oil which is rightly recognized as better than the foreign one, but which today costs more or less the same price - around 10 euros - Is it really that "heavy" in the shopping cart? With the mentioned average of 8,2 liters per year per capita, the cost per person would be in twelve months of 82 euros, precisely 22 cents a day. And in those 22 cents, be careful, there is more a condiment/food, but a health value which, as recognized by all researchers, has so many beneficial properties that are found, so numerous, only in breast milk.
Benedetto Fracchiolla, president of Fin Oliva Global Service, producer companies, cooperatives and associations with over 100 thousand tons of Italian oil marketed every year, again at Agrilevante recognized that the price cannot always remain so high, but added that this must be an opportunity to change the paradigm: “An opportunity not to go back, at prices that until a year ago were absolutely unmanageable for producers, with the consequence, moreover, of an ever-increasing abandonment of land. It's time to ensure, in short, the fair recognition to olive growers which have always been the weakest link in the supply chain. Olive growers who, by the way, so far they did not benefit at all from the increase in olive oil, given that, when prices began to rise, they had already delivered their olives for some time."
Therefore, maintaining a fair price that recognizes the work and increased production costs at the final part of the supply chain is the path to follow. Without forgetting, because at this point there are margins, a consequent economic recognition also to the component of millers which, as recalled by Aifo president, Elia Pellegrino, have objective objectives at this stage financial liquidity difficulties. And by millers we mean both those who mill for the bulk oil production, both those that aim for a quality artisanal oil, with a natural price difference. Strengthening communication to the consumer in any case, because if the consumer abandons olive oil for other low-priced vegetable oils, then recovering it becomes very difficult.
And this is where one interprofession – along the lines of the Spanish one, where olive growers, millers and the oil industry work together, speak with one voice and on whose model it relies the undersecretary Patrizio La Pietra as confirmed ad Olive News right in Agrilevante - and it was here that it was said that inter-profession can play an important part, both for a fair redistribution of value, both for promote communication campaigns in which the health aspects of olive oil are strongly strengthened. Explaining to the consumer that - even if prices remain at these levels - 22 cents a day for a food that is good and good for your health is worth spending, perhaps giving up, all things considered, a coffee a week!
