Europe’s local olive oil supply runs almost dry after summer of extreme weather

Wildfires and soaring temperatures around Mediterranean have damaged harvests and forced producers to import supplies from South America

Europe has almost run out of local olive oil supplies and is set for more shortages, after extreme weather around the Mediterranean this summer damaged harvests for a second year.

The world's largest producer has said it is having to import supplies from South America to keep up with demand. Today it is almost physically impossible to buy olive oil. It is sold out," Walter Zanre, the chief executive of the UK arm of Filippo Berio, said.