Consumers, oil prices collapsed, -26% on the 2024 peak

After the strong increases recorded in recent years, retail prices of olive oil are falling again in Italy and, based on the latest Istat data, recorded an average decline of 7% on an annual basis in September, with a collapse of 26% compared to the peaks reached in 2024.

This is stated by Assoutenti who however underlines how, in the face of a general decline in price lists, the risk of purchasing non-Italian oil produced with foreign olives is growing in our country.

The retail prices of olive oil have fallen by more than a quarter in two years - analyzes Assoutenti - Based on Istat data relating to inflation, in fact, compared to the peak reached in June 2024, when oil prices reached their maximum levels in Italy, today people spend 26.4% less for a bottle sold in shops and supermarkets.

Precisely in 2024, olive oil prices recorded a historic surge throughout the European Union, due to the negative trend of the olive oil campaigns characterized by a drastic reduction in harvests caused by extreme drought and anomalous heat waves during the flowering of the olive trees - explains Assoutenti - The lower availability of olives, in the face of rigid demand, led to the surge in price lists for one of the key products on Italian tables, to the point that in 2024 the average price in numerous cities on the Peninsula was between 10 and 12 euros per litre.

"Today the prices of olive oil are recording a constant decline, but at the same time the risk of coming across a non-Italian product is growing for consumers - warns the president Gabriele Melluso - Climate changes have strongly modified the production of oil, and consumers are increasingly faced with packages of oil made with olives of foreign origin, fueling the phenomenon of Italian sounding which damages an excellence of Made in Italy food. For this reason it is important that, when purchasing, citizens check carefully the origin of the raw material, not using only the price as a parameter to guide one's choices".