Italian olive oil sales hit record 13,000 tonnes in July as bulk prices fall below €5/kg
Sales of Italian extra virgin olive oil reached 13,000 tonnes in July, up from 9,000 tonnes in June, as bulk prices settled below €5 per kilogram in the main southern regions. National stocks fell to 99,000 tonnes, but the sell-down is uneven: Puglia has cleared 40% of its January stock while Calabria has sold only 22%.
July sales reach 13,000 tonnes
Sales of Italian extra virgin olive oil reached 13,000 tonnes in July, a sharp increase from 9,000 tonnes in June and the strongest monthly figure of the current campaign, according to teatronaturale.it. National stocks of Italian extra virgin oil fell to 99,000 tonnes.
The publication attributes the acceleration to the fall in prices rather than to any strengthening of demand. Bulk oil is trading stably below €5 per kilogram in Puglia and Calabria, and the Foggia quotation has dropped to €4.45 per kilogram, well below production costs. Trading has intensified in a period when the market is normally quiet. Bottlers, however, continue to buy only for immediate needs and are not building inventory.
Stocks concentrated in the south
Data from ICQRF Frantoio Italia, cited by teatronaturale.it, put regional holdings of Italian extra virgin oil at 31 July as follows:
- Puglia: 51,000 tonnes
- Calabria: 14,000 tonnes
- Sicily: 8,000 tonnes
- Tuscany: 10,000 tonnes
- Umbria: 5,000 tonnes
- Liguria: 2,500 tonnes
The three main producing regions of the south together hold 73% of national stocks, while the three central and northern bottling regions account for 17%. The concentration means that price formation for the whole country is effectively set by how fast tanks empty in Puglia and Calabria.
Calabria lags on sales
The harvest campaign was virtually complete on 31 January, when Puglia held 83,000 tonnes, Calabria 18,000 tonnes and Sicily 15,000 tonnes. Since then Puglia has sold 40% of its stock and Sicily roughly half, while Calabria has sold only 22%. teatronaturale.it describes the region as the weak point of the Italian system this season.
The same pattern appears in organic oil. Calabria holds 25% of Italian organic extra virgin stocks, almost 7,000 tonnes against 9,000 tonnes at the start of the campaign. Puglia's organic stock has fallen from 19,000 tonnes to 13,000 tonnes over the same period, and Sicily's from 5,600 tonnes at 31 January to 3,300 tonnes at the end of July.
PDO and PGI oil below 10,000 tonnes
Certified oil has performed better in relative terms. Volumes of PDO and PGI oil available fell to 9,700 tonnes from 12,000 tonnes in June, with sales of 2,000 tonnes recorded over the month, taking the certified segment below the 10,000-tonne mark.
teatronaturale.it projects that total stocks could fall to 80,000 tonnes or less by the end of September, a level in line with previous years, with the exception of the two seasons of sharp production shortfall across the Mediterranean.
The main risk for the coming campaign comes from Spain. Spanish extra virgin oil is quoted at €3.4 per kilogram, with the same publication elsewhere citing €3.5 per kilogram, a two-year low. Italian oil follows with a premium of €1 to €1.5 per kilogram. If the Spanish harvest turns out well and prices there stay below €4 per kilogram, Italian quotations will struggle in the campaign about to begin. Over a longer horizon, teatronaturale.it points to demand supported by the health profile of extra virgin oil and the spread of the Mediterranean diet, taking the global market beyond $23 billion within ten years, with climate change the main constraint on supply.
