The price of olive oil has risen rapidly over the past three years. Statistics show that the price has risen from around £3.45 for a 500ml bottle in January 2021 to around £7.45 today – a total increase of around 110.5%. That’s more than sugar, which is 70% more expensive today than in 2021, beans, which have become around 60.6% more expensive over the same period, and cheese, which has become more than 44% more expensive.
We visited supermarkets in Cardiff to find out how much olive oil costs these days – and where to find it cheapest. The stores we visited were M&S and Sainsbury’s on Queen Street, Tesco Express on Albany Road and Lidl in Llandaff North. We looked up prices for the other supermarkets online.
We found one of the cheapest litres of olive oil from the own brand at Lidl at 6,79 €while M&S one litre on 7,50 €. However, per litre, the major brands surprisingly all seem to be equally strong, so Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda all 7,80 € for the same amount. A quick online search shows that Morrisons also opted for the same price. Ultimately, however, it was Aldi that came out on top for a litre of olive oil, with the Solesta brand taking the crown at 6,49 €says their website.
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Of the branded olive oil offered, only 500 ml of Filippo Berio were used for 8,60 € for 500 ml in Tesco Express when we were there, while Sainsbury’s 500 ml Napolina at 7,95 €But M&S had the most expensive bottle overall of the stores visited with a 500ml bottle of Tuscan extra virgin olive oil for £10.50.
The bottles at Tesco also have security labels on them, showing how valuable the oil has become. Many reasons have been given for the price rise, including wildfires and droughts in southern Europe last year, a tree-felling disease in Italy and a flood of cheap sunflower oil from Ukraine.
As a full-time student, it can be difficult to find the time to take care of yourself by cooking proper meals rather than subsisting solely on convenience foods and instant noodles, and this is made even more difficult as the prices of basic ingredients are constantly rising.
More and more people are turning to cheaper alternatives when cooking. We’ve switched to sunflower oil, which costs just £2.10 at Tesco, and low calorie spray, which costs £1.75 with a Nectar card, or £1.50 for Frylight at Tesco. Although cheaper, they don’t have the same benefits as olive oil and can be less effective when cooking.
It is not only in the UK that prices have risen. In January 2024, EU figures showed that the price of olive oil was 50% higher than in January 2023.
Eurostat reported that the price of olive oil jumped in the second half of 2023, with a 37% increase in August (compared to August 2022). This trend accelerated in September (+44%) and October (+50%). The peak of the annual rate of change was reached in November 2023 (+51% compared to November 2022). There was a slight slowdown in December, with prices 47% higher (compared to December 2022).
