The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, confirmed on Friday that he is working in collaboration with the Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, to make the VAT on olive oil part of the list of foods with permanently super reduced VAT, whose tax amounts to 4%, from 2025.
Olive oil is exempt from VAT until October 1st after a decree issued by the government in June, which also issued a reduction in VAT on seed oil and pasta to 2% between October and December. If there were no legislative reform, VAT on seed oils and pasta would increase to 7.5% from January 2025, but with this reform, olive oil would be subject to a 4% tax; like bread, milk or eggs.
“These measures have been very effective and have produced results,” despite market pressure”“, said the minister, who made these statements a few minutes before the presentation of the book “Neither rebels nor primitives”. The agrarian unionism of the UGT in Andalusia and its contribution to the construction of democracy”, written by the professor of the University of Jaén Salvador Ruiz Artacho.
Likewise, the minister predicted that in the next olive growing season in Andalusia will exceed one million tons, a much bigger result than the poor 2023 campaign, the worst in recent history. “We hope that the last rains in September will help us reach the expected figures,” said the Agriculture official, who explained that this result would be due to the rains that occurred in the spring.
Furthermore, Planas was pleased to have been able to maintain the ‘stock’ link from the last campaign, although he admitted that they had to supply an additional 206,000 tons, and welcomed the good behavior of private olive oil purchases, despite the fact that these reached year-on-year increases of around 75% in some months of 2024. “The Spanish have continued to consume oil, far exceeding forecasts,” the minister said.
On the other hand, Planas stressed the importance of oil exports and assured that he would like the Olive growers continue to receive fair compensation“Traditional olive groves, intensive or super-intensive, must all have fair remuneration,” said the head of Agriculture, who also confirmed that they will be vigilant so that there are no irregularities or price fixing.
