Labor shortages, climate hiccups, insects and even parrots have impacted smaller growers across Australia. Meanwhile, prices for imported oils rise to unprecedented levels.
Extra virgin olive oil prices in Australia have surged to unprecedented levels recently.
A visit to Melbourne supermarket shelves revealed that medium-quality extra virgin olive oil can now cost more than 25 Australian dollars (€15) per liter.
In recent months, the price of imported extra virgin olive oil has significantly surpassed prices for Australian-made products, reversing a long-standing market trend.
However, there are indications that these rising price trends may soon taper off, including a favorable yield for most Australian olive oil producers in the recent harvest and an anticipated recovery in European olive oil production for the upcoming season.
“The harvest was near what was expected,” Michael Southan, chief executive of the Australian Olives Association (AOA), told Olive Oil Times.
“It was an off-year, so we were expecting yields to be lower, but it was better than the previous off-year in 2022,” Southan explained, referring to the natural alternate bearing cycle of the olive tree.
“In some areas, frosts or hot winds at flowering resulted in little to no fruit set, but luckily, this was not the case for the major olive growing areas,” he added.
Some damage came from the olive lace bug. Though the bug can cause olive trees to lose their leaves, its impact was milder than anticipated.
“It was an issue for some small groves particularly, as this pest has not impacted them in the past,” Southan said. “Still, it is a native insect which has been around for many years. The cooler and wetter preceding summer suited the olive lace bug in increasing its numbers.”
While large olive oil producers may benefit from economies of scale to offset rising production costs, smaller producers often face a different situation.
Natural events were just one of many challenges faced by Australian producers of high-quality olive oil.
“The harvest was smaller than most years. That was due to the drought and the weather hitting the flowering. On top of that, we did a major prune last year,” said Anne Ashbolt, co-owner at Ashbolt Farm, the southern Australian island of Tasmania.
“In Australia, it is always about the labor and the cost of pruning and harvesting,” she added. “Larger groves can use the massive Colossus machines. Smaller groves like ours, pick the olives with handheld rakes.”
Several other producers of high-quality extra virgin olive oil also pointed to the rising production costs as a challenge they have faced this year.
“Post-Covid, the biggest challenge has been staying within budget, particularly with rising labor and consumable costs,” said Stephen and Sui Tham, owners of Cale Shanck Olive Estate.
The farm, located in the southeastern corner of Australia’s mainland in Victoria, also had to deal with severe weather conditions.
“The late spring heavy downpour coincided with the flowering period. This really affected the amount of fruit in the trees,” Tham said. “Following a dry and fairly warm summer, the temperatures plummeted and were accompanied by frequent and occasional heavy rains affecting the ripening of our fruit.”
Interestingly, the harvest started later than usual, beginning in mid-May with the first Leccino trees.
“The quantity harvested was generally lower than previous years, not unexpected given the effects of the spring rains,” Tham said.
These unusual conditions also impacted other vital aspects of extra virgin olive oil production. “In general, the olive oils of our five varieties were milder, unusually so for the Picual and Picholine varieties. It might certainly suit some palates,” Tham said.
In northern Victoria, growers encountered spring freeze episodes that negatively impacted production.
“Our harvest was satisfactory,” said John Symington, owner of Oasis Olives. “We had lost a lot of flowering due to frost last spring, so we had lower than usual expectations, and the harvest came in with a result towards the lower end of the range of expectations.” More