Why olive oil is so expensive as experts share best alternative

When the weekly budget for a food shop is tight enough, the last thing you want to see walking down the aisle is a bottle of bloody olive oil.

It's usually the most expensive item on the list, and instead of using it plentifully, every spoon is treated like that last squeeze of toothpaste that somehow goes on for a month.

But given that it's supposed to be one of the more 'healthier' oils and fats out there, it's something most of us ought to be including in our diets.

Sadly though, the price of olive oil has more than doubled since 2021, driven by climate change and the cost of producing.

Once a staple of the Mediterranean diet, it has become more of a luxury item as prolonged droughts, extreme heat, and wildfires devastated olive groves across Spain, Italy, Greece, and Turkey - the world’s largest producers.

Why olive oil is so expensive?

Olive oil is hella spenny (Getty Stock Images)

Last April, the Grocer reported that the average price of one litre of own-label olive oil was £7.38, which happens to 42 percent higher than the 12 months previous.

“Temperatures in Europe were 0.75°C warmer the past two years than a 1990 to 2020 average, putting increasing strain on agriculture production systems, including water needs,” expert Jessica Fanzo told Eating Well.

"Global production of olive oil has decreased in the last few years due to some of these prolonged events."

The professor of climate and food at Columbia University explained: “[Because] most olive oil is rain-fed, prolonged droughts make it much more difficult for the soil to retain water, putting stress on the trees.”

Olive oil alternatives

Simon Spence, chef patron of Worton Kitchen Garden in Oxfordshire, told The Guardian that he uses own-brand sunflower or rapeseed oil in his salads.

Costing around £3 and £5 a bottle, respectively, it's a lot more affordable than olive oil.

There are cheaper alternatives (Getty Stock Images)

When it comes to salad dressings, Ravinder Bhogal, chef and founder of Jikoni, said a nut oil 'like walnut is quite lovely because it still has a nice, distinctive flavour'. You can generally pick up nut oils for under £3.50.

It comes after Filippo Berio's managing director said their annual volume sales fell by 10 percent last year because of the struggling sector.

“Just to put this in context, a bottle of Filippo Berio Extra Virgin Olive Oil 500ml retailed at £3.75 at the end of 2022 – by the end of 2024 it was £10.50,” Walter Zanre told the outlet.

“It’s been a really tough two years in the olive oil business and our latest published accounts reflect this.”

However, they've had a better start to this year because of 'the deflation in olive oil prices'.

This hopefully means cheaper olive oil in the future.