14/04/02024 (Yahoo News) - UK households are being warned that they could be paying up to £16 for a two-litre bottle of olive oil, amid rising grocery and food inflation. This is a significant increase from the £7 that the same bottle cost two years ago.

Tesco's chief executive, Ken Murphy, recently stated that inflationary pressures had "lessened substantially". However, the average price of a bottle of olive oil has risen by 89% in the past two years, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The increase in the price of olive oil is due to a number of factors, including extreme weather conditions in Spain, the world's largest olive oil producer. The hot and dry conditions have impacted olive groves, leading to a lower yield of olives.

In addition, there has been an increase in global demand for olive oil, as more and more people adopt a Mediterranean diet. This increased demand has driven up prices.

Tesco has responded to the ONS findings by stating that its own-brand olive oil starts at £3.30. However, many shoppers are still facing higher prices for branded olive oils, reports Birmingham Live.

One customer, Melraunch, shared a picture of branded and own-brand olive oils on social media, with the caption: "Sorry but wtf is going on with the price of olive oil? ? ". The image indicates that at Tesco, shoppers may end up spending between £4.30 and £13.85, depending on their product preference.

Average price pressures on grocers have eased as per Tesco's announcement, following the supermarket chain's report of a sales increase of 4.4 per cent to £68.2bn in the year leading up to February 24 - an uplift of £2.86bn from the same time interval the preceding year.

Accordingly, Mr Murphy stated: "However we are conscious that things are still difficult for many customers, so we have worked hard to reduce prices and have now been the cheapest full-line grocer for well over a year."

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/olive-oil-16-warning-shoppers-073025528.html