By From the WaPo (Olive oil prices reach record highs as Spain’s harvest is halved):
Extreme heat, wildfires and drought have decimated much of the world’s olive oil harvest yet again, driving prices to a record high of $9,000 per metric ton.
Most home cooks aren’t buying olive oil by the ton. But retail olive oil prices in the United States have risen in recent years because of extreme weather in olive-oil-producing countries, growing 12.5 percent this year atop an 8.8 percent increase in 2022, according to Circana, a Chicago-based market research firm.
Spain, the source of half the world’s olive oil supply and the global price setter, in May reported a drop in production of 48 percent compared to last year. Concerns intensified following the release of the most recent olive oil report from the Spanish government, which showed dwindling supplies in August.
