Enjoy your beloved olive oil while you can. "Erratic weather" across the Mediterranean has ravaged the region's olive crops, The Washington Post reports, causing the price of extra-virgin olive oil to jump 30 percent in Italy, 10 percent in Spain, and 17 percent in Greece. Overall global production is set to drop some 8 percent this season, experts say.
Bloomberg explains the heat waves and other abnormal weather patterns causing the slump:
Hot, muggy weather in Italy attracted olive fruit flies and helped bacteria to flourish, damaging groves. The nation's production is expected to plunge as much as 50 percent this season. In Greece, last spring's heat waves are poised to cut output by about one-fourth. Floods in Andalusia, Spain's main growing region, ruined its harvest. [Bloomberg]
The strong dollar has so far mostly insulated American consumers against the price rise.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.