There is something different lately about the olive oil Michelle Spangler buys, bottles and infuses with flavors like basil and blood orange for her store in Dallas.
It’s not the taste but the cost: Global olive oil prices have soared to record levels, more than doubling over the past year.
“It’s not a cheap product,” Ms. Spangler said, “and so that will probably price some of my customers out of that product line in my store.”Like the oil that comes from the ground, olive oil is a globally traded commodity, with events in one part of the world reverberating far away.
Drought in Spain, the world’s largest olive oil producer, has devastated recent harvests, and bad weather has hit olive crops in other major growers like Italy, Greece and Portugal.
The United States imports almost all of the olive oil it consumes, primarily from Spain and Italy.
Persons:
Michelle Spangler, It’s, Spangler, “ It’s, Ms
Organizations:
United
Locations:
Dallas, Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal, United States