this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2023
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Spanish supermarkets lock up olive oil as shoplifting surges (www.reuters.com)
submitted 1 year ago by throws_lemy@lemmy.nz to c/europe@feddit.de
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[–] spiderkle@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So is there higher demand for olive oil or was the harvest worse? Or are companies just raising their prices because operating costs are higher?

[–] bad_alloc@feddit.de 23 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Worse harvests due to a major drought in the mediterranean. Olives and Trees now get stolen. Costs are also up, so it is a terrbile mixture.

[–] tal 9 points 1 year ago

How do you steal an olive tree? I can't imagine that it's easy to run around with the root system.

googles

Ah, they're cutting them down and selling them for wood.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/11/07/olive-oil-greece-italy-spain-climate-change-theft/3267b48e-7dec-11ee-b5cc-66c30a3bbb91_story.html

As price of olive oil soars, chainsaw-wielding thieves target Mediterranean's century-old trees

Most of the thefts are branches. When an entire tree is cut down, the thieves typically cut it up and load the pieces into a pickup truck, selling the wood to lumber yards or firewood vendors and taking the olives to an oil mill.

β€œThe (robbers) look for heavily loaded branches and they cut them,” said Neilos Papachristou, who runs an olive mill and nearby grove in a fourth-generation family business. β€œSo, not only do they steal our olives, but they cause the tree serious harm. It takes 4-5 years for it to return to normal.”

[–] SkyeStarfall@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 1 year ago

Welcome to the new normal, I guess

[–] spiderkle@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 year ago

thank you for the info.