An Oil Trade We Missed

From City A.M.:
Olive oil prices jumped almost 20 per cent in 2015 after poor European harvest

Bad news, olive oil fans: your favourite salad dressing got more expensive last year. 

Bad weather and disease hurt Europe’s olive harvest in 2015, while the continent’s top producers suffered fierce competition from Tunisia, which used a bumper harvest to leap into the world’s top exporter position.

All that means the price of olive oil has jumped almost a fifth. 

European shoppers spent an extra €231m (£178m) on olive oil in 2015, after the retail price of oil jumped 19.8 per cent, the FT reports.

This means olive oil was now worth 17 times the value of crude oil. 

Global production for the 2014-15 crop year was 25 per cent lower than the previous year’s harvest, according to the International Olive Council (IOC).

Spain, which makes just over a third of world output, suffered a drought which slashed production. Italy's slump followed a fruit fly infestation 

The slowdown in emerging markets also hit the olive oil trade, the IOC said.

Imports into Russia fell 33 per cent and Brazilians bought in eight per cent less. Trade with Australia and Canada also fell, but imports to China and the US held firm....MORE