Spanish Household Olive-Oil Purchases Rebound 20.4% as Prices Fall
Spanish households bought 318.7 million kilograms of olive oil in 2025, up 20.4% after the average price fell 39.8%. Consumption returned to 2019 levels, but remained well below the volumes recorded in 2020 and 2010.
Lower prices bring consumers back
Spanish household purchases of olive oil rose sharply in 2025 as lower retail prices encouraged consumers to return to the category after four consecutive years of decline. Households consumed 318.7 million kilograms, 53.9 million kilograms more than in 2024 and an increase of 20.4%, according to Ministry of Agriculture data analyzed by Jaén-based producer and marketer La Loma Market and reported by El Periódico.
The increase was the largest since 2010. It also exceeded the 16.0% rise recorded in 2020, when Spain was under pandemic restrictions and restaurant closures shifted more food consumption into homes. Annual purchases reached 6.80 kilograms per person in 2025, compared with 5.65 kilograms a year earlier.
A 39.8% price decline reshapes spending
Price was the main driver of the rebound. The average cost of olive oil fell from €7.96 per kilogram in 2024 to €4.79 in 2025, a decline of 39.8%. Consumers therefore bought substantially more while spending less. Total household expenditure on olive oil dropped 27.5%, from €2.107 billion to €1.527 billion, a reduction of €580 million.
Average annual expenditure per person declined from €44.93 to €32.60. That made olive oil an exception within the wider Spanish grocery market: household food expenditure increased by 4.8% during the year, while the average price per kilogram of products added to shopping baskets rose by 3.9%. For olive-oil producers and retailers, recovering volume did not prevent a significant contraction in the value of household sales.
Extra virgin oil gains share
Extra virgin olive oil led the recovery. Spanish households purchased 138.2 million kilograms, 33.9% more than in 2024. The variety accounted for 43.35% of all olive oil entering Spanish homes, its highest share in the available data series.
The buyer base also expanded. Some 82.2% of households bought olive oil at least once during 2025, up from 79.5% in 2024. For extra virgin oil, household penetration increased by more than five percentage points, from 56.5% to 61.7%. These figures indicate that lower prices supported both greater purchasing by existing customers and a return to the category by households that had stopped buying.
Recovery remains incomplete
Despite the strong annual growth, La Loma Market cautioned against treating 2025 as a complete recovery. Sales remained 22.8% below the 2020 level and 28.6% below 2010, when annual consumption stood at 9.72 kilograms per person. The rebound ended four years of consecutive decline and restored household consumption only to its 2019 level.
Regional data also show substantial differences. Andalucía recorded the largest total volume at 57.2 million kilograms, followed by Catalunya and the Community of Madrid. On a per-capita basis, however, the Basque Country led with 8.79 kilograms, narrowly ahead of Galicia at 8.76 kilograms. La Rioja reached 8.66 kilograms and Navarra 8.47 kilograms. Andalucía, the world’s largest producing region, ranked eleventh at 6.66 kilograms per person, below the Spanish average, while Catalunya recorded 6.97 kilograms.
