Business · Energy & Commodities · 5 hrs ago
Spain to require olive mills to store 12% of olive oil output
Spain’s Agriculture Ministry plans to activate a measure requiring olive mills and cooperatives to store 12% of their declared olive oil production.
The requirement covers the 2026/2027 campaign and amounts to about 188,000 tonnes of oil kept off the market.
The measure is intended to address an expected surplus, with production forecast at 1.6 million tonnes and starting stocks at about 357,000 tonnes.
Extra supply has coincided with prices for extra-virgin olive oil falling to around three euros per kilo, below the five euros producers say they need to break even.
The EU-backed measure aims to stabilise the market and slow the price fall.
Industrial and bottling groups oppose the mandatory storage, while Spain’s competition authority has warned that restricting supply could push prices up and weaken incentives to improve quality.
Mills must store the required share in their own or other facilities, and the ministry’s resolution is due to be published on Friday.
Spain plans to require olive mills to store 12% of their declared olive oil output for the 2026/2027 campaign.
The measure is intended to reduce oversupply and help stop prices falling.
The Agriculture Ministry says production and opening stocks will total about 1.96 million tonnes.
Extra virgin olive oil prices have fallen to around €3 per kilogram, below the €5 level cited as the profitability threshold.
Industry groups and the competition authority have raised concerns about the measure.
- Who
- Spain’s Agriculture Ministry will require cooperatives and olive oil mills to store oil.
- What
- Mills must store 12% of their declared production. The measure aims to regulate supply and stabilise prices.
- When
- The requirement applies to the 2026/2027 campaign. The ministry planned to formalise the measure on Friday.
- Where
- Spain.
- Why
- The ministry says high production and stocks create an oversupply that risks further price falls.
Spanish Agriculture Ministry and producer organisations
Industrial and bottling associations and the CNMC
Purpose
Spanish Agriculture Ministry and producer organisations
The measure is intended to regulate oversupply, stabilise the market and prevent serious price distortions.
Industrial and bottling associations and the CNMC
The associations say mandatory storage could harm the sector’s competitiveness; the CNMC has warned that restricting supply could raise prices and reduce incentives to improve quality.
Approach
Spanish Agriculture Ministry and producer organisations
Producer organisations have persistently called for the mechanism to be activated.
Industrial and bottling associations and the CNMC
The associations have called for a long-term strategy covering both production and marketing.
A ministerial order setting the conditions for activating the storage mechanism was published.
Official estimates put olive oil production at 1,602,596 tonnes, with opening stocks of 357,000 tonnes.
The Agriculture Ministry planned to formalise the activation of the 12% storage requirement.
- Storage requirement
- 12% of each mill’s declared monthly production
- Estimated production
- 1,602,596 tonnes in the 2026/2027 campaign
- Opening stocks
- 357,000 tonnes
- Combined production and stocks
- About 1.96 million tonnes
- Extra virgin olive oil price
- Around €3 per kilogram
What people are saying
At these prices, extra virgin olive oil is being paid for at just over three euros at origin, and that does not cover production costs, so the Chain Law is not being complied with in the contracts being signed.