Where do Spain's supermarket giant Mercadona's own-brand olive oils come from?

Some 95% of the Spanish store chain's Hacendado white-label olive oils originate from just one region in the south of the country

Alberto Flores

Granada

Sunday, 8 September 2024, 10:14

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Olive oil is one of the most-widely consumed products in Spain. It has continued to be so despite the fact that in recent months its price has not stopped rising in the nation's supermarkets, to the point of becoming practically a luxury item for many. However, this situation is beginning to change with the approach of the new olive harvest season, when prices are expected to return to a certain normality.

Until that happens, however, and in order to reduce the money spent on buying olive oil, many consumers have resorted to white-label versions of this 'liquid gold'. As the national OCU organisation of consumers and users confirmed in one of its reports earlier this year, some of the best olive oils to be bought are white-labelled products.

Among all of them there is one that the OCU highlighted above all others: the one marketed by Mercadona under its Hacendado brand name and logo. The reason for this is due to the companies behind the manufacture of these oils for the supermarket chain from Valencia.

Andalusian olive oil

Some 95% of Mercadona's olive oil comes from Andalucía. In fact, in the case of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) and Gran Selección, it comes from the Oleoestepa cooperative in the region. This is the product that in the OCU analysis to measure the quality of the EVOOs sold in Spanish supermarkets scored 83 and 85 points respectively.

In the case of virgin olive oil and those oils that come in spray format, these come from elsewhere. The virgin product comes from the Olivar del Segura cooperative, which belongs to the Jaencoop group. Aceites Maeva, a company from Granada, supplies the olive oil in spray format.

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