More than 5,000 protestors have marched on a local government building in Jaén, calling for officials to introduce measures that would help to raise the price of olive oil.
Dozens of riot police were dispatched to keep the protestors from entering the building.
The price of extra virgin olive oil in some places has fallen beneath €2.00 ($2.26) per kilogram, which is often less than what it costs to produce, bottle and get to market.
“With what they pay us, we work hard to earn nothing,” one protestor told Sevilla ABC.
In Porcuna, a small town in the province of Jaén, the local government has called on producers not to sell at the moment and stockpile their oils until prices go back up.
Rafael Pico Lapuente, the director of the Spanish Association of Olive Oil Exporting, Industry and Commerce (Asoliva), told Olive Oil Times that there is still no telling when that will happen.
“The evolution of prices is difficult to know because it also depends on the production of other countries,” he said.
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