philat98

At this time of year I usually go to Trevi to buy a bottle of new season olive oil. This year a litre of extra virgin oil DOP Trevi is selling at €30. Thats about twice as much as last year.
My village has a festival of oil to celebrate the harvest but there are no olives so who knows where it is coming from.
The south of Italy has a good harvest this year so may be they are buying it in Puglia.
Italy is a big importer of oil with 75% of oil consumed coming from outside the country. With such high prices there is plenty of opportunity for fraud.

modicasa

Apart from the imported oil, the biggest fraud in Italy happened in Toscana, where they coloured rubbish oil with spinach and sold it off as Extra Virgin. It appears now that organised crime has also worked out that there are big profits to be made. This year the harvest down here was quite good, given the cold spring and the hot summer and the fact it hasnt rained for 5 months, the resa is down to about 7% - which means the actual amount of oil produced is relatively low.

Geordieborn

Most of the oil you get here in the UK is absolute rubbish compared to that we bought (or made) at the frantoio, but we did eventually find one that was a little better than most. Trouble is it almost doubled in price a few months back "due to inflation"! I'm guessing we will now be hit with "poor crop this year". A problem for us as we have been used to consuming what would be considered vast amounts here in the UK... circa a paltry 5L/year... I'd rather pay more for better quality and use less, but finding an honest supplier might be difficult.

philat98

I dont think you can find the freshly pressed oil in the UK. The flavour changes very quickly.
In my opinion they increased the price of olive oil because the price of seed oils increased. Farm labourers in Italy are not paid much and the price of diesel oil didnt change either.
The country men here are very pleased with the high price of oil but not so pleased because their trees are fruitless. To add to the their misery the storms last week knocked off what olives there were and they have to be scraped off the ground.

C.2s

It's about €15 a litre here (Tuscia).

philat98

There is quite a price range. Some of these oil vendors are crafty. Bartolini in the Valnerina has a mill and you can watch the oil flowing from the press. Their 5ltr cans of oil however are only labelled product of Italy. Some other vendors write on their labels that the olives come from their own land and they have their own press.

C.2s

Well, it's like any products. T-shirt from an average shop vs exactly the same t-shirt with "a name" on it? Whether you increase a price or not is a Marley strategy.

Here's what one of the local coop frantoio has said:"In questo anno in cui stanno aumentando i prezzi di tutti i generi alimentari e nel quale si prevede una netta diminuzione a livello mondiale della produzione di olio extravergine di oliva, l’oleificio Sociale Cooperativo di Canino, pur registrando un aumento dei costi della produzione, ha fatto la scelta coraggiosa di lasciare i prezzi invariati.

LATTINA LITRI 5 € 55,00"

C.2s

"MARKETING strategy"...(f"@#ing autocorrect!!)

philat98

Thats a good price at Canino. We usually buy 25litres from a local farmer and that lasts all year. It is critical getting a good quality product when buying a large quantity.