Olive oil industry in crisis as Europe’s heatwave threatens another harvest

The olive oil industry is “in crisis”, and the heatwave in southern Europe is threatening to inflict the second bad harvest in a row and gaps on shelves this autumn. After a spring heatwave affected flowering in Spain, which produces about half of the global olive crop, the harvest was forecast to be only 28% up on last year, which was the worst in almost a decade. The International Olive Oil Council predicted that the country would produce 850,000 tonnes, compared with 1.3m tonnes in a typical year and just 660,000 last year. That forecast was issued before the current period of high temperatures. The industry fears that production could end up being even worse as a second heatwave in a week brings temperatures of up to 43C this week to some southern parts of Spain, prompting trees to drop unripe fruits in order to preserve moisture. “In Spain we already know it is going to be another bad year, but no one has got to grips with the what’s currently happening. The record ...