Extra virgin olive oil on the rise on all markets

The trend of the olive oil market in the first quarter of 2021, in the first phase of trading, given the very dynamic demand of the bottlers, thanks to the recovery of the Horeca channel, has pushed up the prices of extra virgin they averaged € 4.60 per kilo in the first half of the year, showing an increase of 45% on a trend basis. This is what emerges from Ismea’s calculations based on Agea’s declarative data contained in the Olive Oil Trends report for the first quarter of 2021. Imports have also started to march again, after the slowdown recorded in 2020, to make up for the shortage of Italian raw materials. In the first 3 months of 2021, Italy increased its purchases of olive oil by 16% with higher outlays of over 43% due to the increase in international prices. On the positive side of the trade balance, on the other hand, a net reduction in export volumes can be observed compared to the same quarter of last year (-6.4%) against, however, a resilience of exports in value (-1%). The balance of the trade balance therefore returns to negative after 2020 closed with a surplus of 97 million euros, a rather anomalous situation for the sector. Suffice it to consider that in the last 20 years the positive balance has been registered only 5 times. In general, however, the confidence climate index for the first quarter of 2021, in which operators are looking forward to the coming months, is back on the ground. positive and with an absolute value among the best in recent years. The expectations of growth on orders certainly gave impetus to a certain optimism, also in view of the reopening of the Horeca. Once the milling activities have ended, the figure relating to the oil production of the current campaign stands at 273 thousand tons, down 25% on the previous campaign. To condition the collection, Ismea underlines in the report, was above all the alternation between charge and discharge in the southern regions, where Puglia, Calabria and Sicily record contractions in oil production of 45%, 36% and 5% respectively . In the Center North, however, the rather rosy forecasts of early autumn are confirmed with double production in Tuscany, + 82% in Umbria, + 58% in Lazio and triple in Liguria.