Supermarket shoppers hit out over 'eye-watering' olive oil prices as cost soars by 89%

Shoppers have been taken aback after seeing the latest price tag of a kitchen cupboard staple that has close to doubled in cost over the past year.

According to recent figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the average price of a bottle of olive oil has increased by a staggering 89% - meaning the cheapest option is now nearly £8 in major UK supermarkets. This is due to difficult weather conditions impacting olive groves in the Mediterranean, with the region experiencing its hottest summer on record in 2023.

It comes after a photo shared to social media earlier this week showing olive oil options for sale in a Tesco store went viral, showing prices as high as £13 per bottle. Over in Spain, the oil has become so expensive that Spanish supermarkets have been forced to lock up their bottles or place security tags on them in a bid to prevent shoplifting, BirminghamLive reports.

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In response to the ONS findings, a Tesco spokesperson added: "Our own-brand olive oil starts at £3.30." However, this price refers to a 250ml bottle of olive oil, which works out at £1.32 per 100ml.

At Tesco, the cheapest bottle going off cost per 100ml is the one litre bottle of the supermarket's own-brand olive oil, which has a price tag of £7.80 (78p per 100ml). Sainsbury's own-brand olive oil also costs £7.80 for a one litre bottle, as do Asda's and Morrisons' comparable options, while for an Extra Virgin bottle the price rises to £8.40 at all of the big four supermarkets.

Earlier this month, Tesco said price pressures have eased "substantially" as the supermarket giant revealed a jump in profits, although it was still seeing "sticky" inflation on popular items such as chocolate, potatoes and coffee. The retailer posted an adjusted operating profit of £2.83 billion for the year to February, up almost 13% on the previous year.

Elsewhere at the supermarkets, latest data from the ONS showed that annual food price inflation fell to its lowest level for two years in February, with a growing number of household items seeing prices fall compared with the same time last year. There have been sharp slowdowns in the average price of eggs, which rose by 3.2% in the year to February compared with a jump of 7.2% in the year to January; crisps (up by 6.2% in February compared with 10.8% in January); yoghurt (up 6.5% compared with 9.9%); tea (up 7.2% compared with 10.6%) and pizza and quiche (up one per cent compared with four per cent).

A number of products are now recording negative inflation – in other words, prices are falling year-on-year, the ONS found. The average cost of whole milk was down 10.2% in the year to February, a slightly larger fall than the drop of 10% in January, while butter was down 7.6% and cheese fell in price by 0.3%.