Spanish Extra Virgin Olive Oil Rebounds to €3.60/kg as Italian Prices Stay Flat

Spanish extra virgin returns to €3.60/kg

Spanish extra virgin olive oil prices rebounded sharply in the final week of July, while official Italian wholesale quotations remained stable. According to Teatro Naturale, Spanish extra virgin gained almost €0.20/kg in one week to reach €3.60/kg on July 28. The movement offers some support to a market still marked by weak demand, ample lower-grade stocks and uncertainty over the next Mediterranean harvest.

PoolRed data cited by the publication show that Spanish extra virgin had approached €3.40/kg on July 20 before recovering to €3.60/kg. Virgin olive oil followed the same direction, rising to €3.27/kg on July 28 after reaching a low of €3.13/kg on July 23. Teatro Naturale calculated weekly movements of 5-8%, which it described as unusually large for the generally stable Spanish market.

Lampante olive oil moved in the opposite direction. Its price continued to fall and was close to €2.95/kg on July 28, according to PoolRed. Teatro Naturale said the category remains abundant in Iberian storage tanks and that recent extreme heat has affected quality parameters, particularly spectrophotometric indicators that can be difficult to correct through deodorisation and blending.

Italian sales resume below official quotations

In Italy, sales of extra virgin olive oil have resumed in recent days in Puglia and Calabria, but Teatro Naturale reported that transactions were taking place below official wholesale indications of around €5/kg. The publication said those levels represented a substantial loss compared with the cost of buying olives and producing oil.

Official Ismea Mercati quotations were unchanged at €4.80/kg in Taranto, Brindisi and Lecce on July 23. Foggia stood at €4.55/kg on the same date, while Bari was also quoted at €4.55/kg on July 20. The gap between these references and reported transaction prices indicates continuing pressure on sellers that need to move inventories before the new olive-oil campaign.

Lower prices may help empty storage tanks, but they also create financing difficulties for cooperatives, producer organisations and mills. Teatro Naturale warned that some mills could remain closed during the next campaign and that pressure could emerge in the olive market as extra virgin quotations converge at lower levels.

Demand weakness meets harvest uncertainty

The decline in the Italian market followed a sharp slowdown in supermarket sales of extra virgin olive oil during the first four months of 2026. Teatro Naturale also linked the downturn to numerous cases of origin fraud, some of which were identified during extraordinary inspections in early July. It said Italian oil had lost €2-3/kg in recent weeks and argued that recovering that value within a few months would be difficult, particularly if Spanish prices remain low.

The market is now assessing how much virgin and extra virgin oil is available for supermarket shelves and how much lampante can realistically be sent for refining. The distinction matters for processors and packers because heat-related deterioration may limit the usable volume of some lower-grade stocks, even when headline inventory appears ample.

Production prospects are likely to become the main price driver. Teatro Naturale described the outlook in Italy and the wider Mediterranean as unpromising. Successive July heatwaves and the weather expected in August and September are raising irrigation costs and increasing the risk of fruit drop in unirrigated groves. For buyers, the Spanish rebound is an early signal of firmer values, but one week of price gains does not yet establish a durable trend.