How much should Extra Virgin Olive Oil Cost?
We are a small company and we deal with select farmers and small quantities. We individually investigate how the olives are cultivated and we perform analysis on each lot of olive oil before we buy directly from the farmers. The price we pay per unit is higher than a multinational company that deals with larger quantities. However, this is a question I ask myself every time I see a, so call, extra virgin olive oil at the supermarket at less than what we pay for the raw material at the farm. I grew up in a town producing olive oil and my parents also produce olive oil. We know what is the price of good extra virgin olive oil. So how can supermarkets sell olive oil for less of what it is sold at the production? It just is not the same.
Any way, how much should olive oils cost? We can say, as with everything, there is a balance between supply and demand but the full picture may be much more complicated.
If we consider the production cost, we know that producing olive oil is very expensive. You would not be very surprise to see a bottle of wine marked $25 at the market. I can tell you the cost of producing olive oil is five to ten times more than wine!
If we considered the nutritional value, we can say olive oil is less costly of than many other foods. For example 1 lb or 500 ml of olive oil gives about 4,086 Calories, 1 lb of a Porterhouse Steak gives about 946 Calories. How much you would pay for a 4 lb Porterhouse Steak?
500 ml of table wine gives about 384 calories, less than 1/10 of olive oil.
The health properties of extra virgin olive oil have been demonstrated in many studies. Unfortunately there is no guarantee that the cheap oils sold at the supermarket contain those precious healthy elements that are present in fresh extra virgin olive oil. Sure, there are over there some good olive oil at lower price but low price but stay away from cheap bargain prices. Be aware that the cheap ones are usually just that… cheap.
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