The fourth and final stage of the tendering scheme applied by the E.U. to rebalance its olive oil sector concluded yesterday, achieving the withdrawal of another 41,600 tons of olive oil from the European market.
After months of market imbalance, I’m proud to see the last tendering under the private storage aid scheme for olive oil conclude on a positive note.
In the last tendering procedure, subsidies of €0.83 ($0.91) per day, per ton, were granted to operators from Spain, Italy, and Portugal to keep their oils in storage for 180 days.
After all four tenders, another 213,500 tons of olive oil have been removed from the market, or about 27 percent of current E.U. stocks.
Spanish operators covered the vast majority of tender offers due to the shabby conditions prevailing in the Spanish market, the European Commission press release said, while the most successful of the tender series was the third, accounting for almost half of the olive oil being withdrawn.
Janusz Wojciechowski, the E.U. commissioner for agriculture and rural development, expressed his optimism for a recovery of olive oil prices in Europe.
“After months of market imbalance, I’m proud to see the last tendering under the private storage aid scheme for olive oil conclude on a positive note,” he said.
“It is too early to see the full impact of the support measure, but the first signs of price recovery are already visible. The European Commission has shown once again its commitment and support to European farmers, especially when faced with market disruption.”
Sources within the European Commission told Olive Oil Times that the objective of the private storage measure is not to compensate some operators for market losses but to stabilize the E.U. market by withdrawing a sufficiently large volume of olive oil until a return to acceptable market prices.
In any case, the Commission said that signs of improvement exist, but more time is needed before any substantial effect on prices is observed.
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