- Olive oil prices linger at €4.5 per kilo, below production costs, strangling profits.
- Duty-free imports flood Europe; 40,000 tons entered just in January, exacerbating market chaos.
- Climate change has devastated yields, requiring 7–8 kilos of olives for 1 kilo of oil.
- Producers, trapped in a system of dwindling returns, demand action from the EU and local authorities.
- Without intervention, the traditional olive oil industry faces collapse, risking the “green gold” of Crete.
Picture this: rows of ancient olive trees wrestling with the relentless sting of climate change, while their fruit struggles to yield even a drop of that prized liquid gold. It takes almost eight kilos of olives this season to produce just one kilo of olive oil—a cruel joke compared to the three-to-four kilos needed in years past. And all of this is unfolding under a heavy cloud of economic despair because the numbers don’t add up for olive oil producers in Crete.
You see, the average olive oil price across Greece sits at a frustrating €4.5 per kilo. Sounds manageable, right? Wrong. That price doesn’t even cover the average production cost of €4.75 per kilo. It’s a lose-lose game that leaves farmers clutching their harvest, unwilling to sell at a loss. Their hopes for a price surge flicker dimly as a flood of duty-free olive oil trickles in from outside the European borders, drowning any chance of economic reprieve.
Duty-Free: A Double-Edged Sword
This isn’t just a problem of supply outweighing demand. Enter the uninvited guest—massive quantities of duty-free olive oil pouring in from Tunisia, Turkey, and other third-party nations. By January alone, 40,000 tons entered the EU without any import duties—30,000 tons from Tunisia, 10,000 from Turkey. It’s a market on fire, and the arsonist certainly isn’t holding olive-wood matches.
The European Union’s laissez-faire policy has opened the doors wide. Duty-free olive oil is, technically, fair game until December 2025, thanks to decisions made on faraway bureaucratic tables. But what’s fair for some is catastrophic for others. Crete’s farmers are left to watch as their carefully cultivated oil competes against much cheaper imports. The result? A stagnant market of frozen prices and sluggish trade.
Let’s get this straight: this isn’t just a localized issue—it’s a European disgrace. Italy, for example, boasts an olive oil price of €9 per kilo, yet its countryside is littered with uncultivated olive groves. The costs of production are simply too high to keep up. Meanwhile, cheaper markets from outside Europe are quietly but efficiently grabbing hold of European shelves.
Farmers Demand Action
“My fields are drowning, but I’m still expected to swim.” That’s essentially the sentiment echoed by the president of the Small Cooperative Associations in Greece, Mr. Myron Chiletzakis. Addressing these issues, he has demanded the implementation of concrete measures, such as an electronic monitoring system for olive oil distribution.
Here’s how it would work: all olive oil production would be logged at the mill with detailed receipts issued for private use or commercial sale. This data, uploaded to systems like myDATA, would allow authorities to track production, sales, and available stock weekly. It’s transparency, something that, ironically, olive oil itself is celebrated for, but the industry currently lacks.
Without reliable data, how can anyone truly gauge the scale of the issue? How can Greece, or any olive oil-producing country for that matter, plan for the future? Chiletzakis argues the EU needs this visibility to manage supply and demand within its member states. Otherwise, the market risks full-blown collapse.
Meanwhile, climate change continues to gnaw away at tradition. The once-thriving yields of Crete may produce 70,000 to 80,000 tons of olive oil this year—a 60% increase compared to last year. But this “victory” feels hollow when weighed against diminishing returns per kilo of olives. It’s like extending a bridge only to find the river has dried up underneath it.
The Cost of Doing Nothing
It’s easy to feel detached while enjoying a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil on your summer salad. The reality, though, is far more bitter. If action isn’t taken—and soon—Europe could lose much of its olive oil market forever. The hands cultivating these groves, so tied to tradition, may simply give up under unsustainable costs. And what happens next? Deserted fields, shuttered mills, and an erosion of cultural identity.
The frightening truth is, olive farmers themselves are hesitant to sell their year’s work. Because selling below cost doesn’t just mean breaking even—it means breaking spirit and risking their very livelihood. With EU policies favoring cheaper imports, the green gold of Crete teeters on the edge of extinction.
Let’s not romanticize the struggle here. This is raw, this is real, and above all, this is urgent. If action isn’t taken to provide support through transparent regulations, subsidies, or at the very least common-sense policies, the world-renowned olive oil industry we all take for granted could soon become the stuff of legends, not reality.
Save a bottle if you can. It might become a relic.