"It is interesting that, despite this steep price increase, which rose by more than 100%, the decline in Portuguese consumption in the whole of 2023, between December 2022 and December 2023, was only 11%", said Gonçalo Morais Tristão, who was speaking in Valpaços, on the sidelines of the 7th edition of the National Olive Oil Congress.

The official considered that "it is a significant decline, but that, compared to the price increase, means that the consumer is resilient, likes olive oil and does not want to switch to another oil or fat".

The price of olive oil was one of the topics debated at the congress that brings together professionals in the area in Trás-os-Montes. Worldwide, the price of olive oil has increased exponentially in recent months, transforming it into the new "green gold" and posing more and new challenges to the national olive and olive oil sector.

Gonçalo Morais Tristão mentioned that there have been changes in consumption since, for example, the consumer who went to the mill or shops to buy five-litre bottles of olive oil, now buys three-litre bottles, but "does not stop buying".

"So much so that producers have also started to have to create new formats for selling olive oil", he stressed.

According to data released on 27 February by Eurostat, the price of olive oil rose by 69% in Portugal in January, registering the largest year-on-year increase for the product, which rose by an average of 50% in the European Union (EU).

According to data from the European statistical service, in the EU, the price of olive oil skyrocketed in the second half of 2023, with an inflationary peak of 51% in November, compared to the same month in 2022.

In December 2023, the year-on-year increase in the price of olive oil slowed slightly to 47% and accelerated again in January.

In January, the price of olive oil increased in all Member States.

Poor production in Spain in the last two campaigns, which produces around 40 to 50% of the world's olive oil production, climate change and the inflation resulting from the covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, were factors that, according to the leader, increased the price of olive oil.

Now, he added, if this year's campaign and the next few are good, "it is natural that prices will fall".

"Don't ask me exactly to what value, but it is natural that they will fall", he stressed, but, he added, not to values like those seen a few years ago when a kilo of olive oil was sold for around two euros.

"And that is good for everyone, for the producer and for the consumer, because the consumer also has to value the excellent product that we make in Portugal", he stressed.

Organised by CEPAAL, in partnership with the Valpaços City Council, the National Olive Oil Congress is held within the scope of the National Olive Growing Fair, which runs from today until Sunday.

According to the organisation, the congress aims to "contribute to the revitalisation of the national olive and olive oil sector, one of the most important in the national economy".

Since 2000, national olive oil production has more than quintupled and exports have increased by more than 12 times, surpassing the one billion euro mark in 2023.

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