Italian olive oil producers face liquidity crunch threatening harvest

The main Italian olive oil producers' associations have warned that a lack of liquidity and saturated storage facilities could prevent many mills from collecting and paying for the upcoming olive harvest.

They say the crisis stems from high purchase prices in the previous campaign combined with a collapse in market prices, together with rising energy, logistics and water‑management costs. Oil immobilised in warehouses ties up capital, forcing mills to keep oil in storage or sell at losses.

The groups, led by Alberto Amoroso, president of the Associazione Italiana Frantoiani Oleari (AIFO), have asked the Ministry of Agricultural Policies and Food Sovereignty (MASAF) and regional authorities to convene an urgent crisis table, noting that they have been excluded from the Ministry’s Olive Table meetings.

If mills stop operating, olive growers would lose a market for their crop, endangering the whole Italian olive‑oil supply chain.