Planas supports withdrawing oil to keep prices up

The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, has defended this Friday that the implementation of the market withdrawal mechanism for 12% of olive oil production is “a market regulation measure that guarantees adequate remuneration for olive growers and provides stability for consumers, because it avoids sudden fluctuations in prices.” “These are very important objectives so that, for the first time, this measure is carried out,” he emphasized.

Before the media, the head of Agriculture explained that the resolution of the Directorate General of Agricultural Production and Markets, published today in the Official State Gazette (BOE), responds to the request of the farming organizations Asaja, UPA and COAG, as well as of Cooperativas Agro-alimentarias de España, and aims to “guarantee the profitability of farmers.”

Planas wanted to “draw attention to the large differences in production costs between traditional olive groves, which are much higher, and super-intensive crops,” emphasizing the impact this has on the viability of farms.

During his visit to the cooperative La Unión de Montilla (Córdoba), the minister insisted that the withdrawal of part of the product from the market is a tool of an “extraordinary and temporary” nature and “perfectly compatible with European rules.”

Article 167 bis of Regulation 1308/2013 of the European Union provides that, in order to improve and stabilize the functioning of the market for olive oils and olives of origin, producing member states may, on a provisional basis and with not excessive volumes, set supply regulation rules when situations of overproduction occur.

According to forecasts prepared by the autonomous communities, the olive oil harvest for the campaign that has just begun could exceed 1.6 million tonnes, to which are added 357,000 tonnes of stocks from the previous campaign.

Thus, the total volume is close to two million tonnes and exceeds the threshold set in the olive oil marketing standard to activate the market withdrawal mechanism, set at 120% of the average of the last six campaigns.