However, this could be about to change due to a radical drop in olive oil production in recent months.
The worst in 25 years, the problem is so pressing that Italy may be forced to import olive oil by April.
Extreme weather events – such as erratic rainfalls, early frosts, droughts and strong winds – have crippled the olive harvest in recent months, causing a 57 per cent drop in production over 2018 and costing the industry almost €1 billion.
The dramatic plunge drove thousands of farmers onto the streets to protest last month.
Riccardo Valentini, director of the Impacts Division at the Euro-Mediterranean Center for Climate Change, said more extreme weather are exacerbated by human-induced climate change.
“We are getting more and more into this complex climate situation of extremes,” Valentini told CNN.
“Olive trees are very sensitive to certain climatic conditions – sometimes three days of freezing [temperatures] are more important than an average temperature over the year.”
Europe has experienced freak weather conditions in recent times, from one extreme to the other.
Average temperatures in the Mediterranean have already risen by 1.4˚C above pre-industrial levels – compared with a global average of around 1˚C – while precipitation has dropped by 2.5 per cent.
Italy experienced a cold snap in February 2018, before sweltering heat swept the country in the summer and strong winds and floods battered the entire Belpaese in October.
Italian farmer’s association Coldiretti estimated that the cost of the olive oil collapse this year has already reached €1 billion.
The southern region of Puglia, which produces most of the country’s olive oil, has been affected the most, with more than 25 million olive trees in the area having been killed.
Beyond Italy, the European commission has projected 2018-19 olive harvests to drop by 20 per cent in Portugal and 42 per cent in Greece, although industry sources said final figures there could be significantly worse.
