Mintec to Launch Olive Oil Index Mintec Benchmark Prices

All Market Notes 16 June 2023

Mintec to Launch Olive Oil Index Mintec Benchmark Prices

Following a period of market feedback, Mintec has decided to launch two index Mintec Benchmark Prices for extra virgin olive oil. The assessments will begin publication effective from Friday, 30th June 2023. The initial proposal was communicated in a market note which can be found here.

The specification for these assessments will be as below:

The assessments will reflect the transactable value at 16:00 London time.

The index assessments will use a basket of underlying Mintec Benchmark Prices from different European olive oil-producing countries, combined with a calculation that takes olive oil production statistics (in tonnes) of each of those countries and applies a weighting.

Countries taken into consideration for the European olive oil indexes are Spain, Greece and Italy. The weighting is based on a fixed 5-season average (2017/18 to 2021/22) for olive oil production. The production statistics are published by the European Commission and can be accessed here.

The weightings will be as follows: Spain 70.98%, Greece 13.21% and Italy 15.81%. The assessment for the conventional extra virgin olive oil index will use series JG23 for Spain, WJ43 for Italy and OO15 for Greece, weighted as above. The assessment of the organic extra virgin olive oil index will use series OOOG for Greece, OOOI for Italy and OOOS for Spain weighted as above.

The assessments will be rounded to the nearest Euro cent using the rule that decimals of four (4) or less round down, and decimals of five (5) or above round up, e.g. €1.744 will be rounded to €1.74, and €1.755 will be rounded to €1.76.

The olive indexes will provide an independent reference point at a European level for extra virgin olive oil and allow for Mintec subscribers to visualise movement in the wider European markets. Additionally utilising these assessments for risk management purposes would provide an opportunity for market participants to effectively hedge against market conditions when sourcing from multiple origins.

Please send any questions or comments about this market note to methodology@mintecglobal.com, and clearly state which market note your comments relate to, and if comments are intended for publication by Mintec.

Mintec will acknowledge receipt of all comments by email.