“Given an oversupply following the 2018-2019 harvest, prices on the Spanish, Greek and Portuguese markets have been particularly low,” said the European Commission in a statement.


Markets are being affected by the sharp fall in prices in Spain, the largest producer and exporter of olive oil, where extra virgin olive oil prices were 33 percent below the five-year average in mid-October.


By comparison, in Greece olive oil was marketed at a price 13.5 percent below the five-year average.


In April, the average price of virgin olive oil in the European Union (EU) was the lowest since October 2014, at €265 per 100 kilograms, 14 percent less than in the same month last year.


The EU forecasts an increase in stocks of 859,000 tonnes of olive oil in the 2018/2019 marketing year, with 88 percent coming from Spain, which, combined with the expectation of a harvest in 2019/2020 threatens the European market, hence the need for intervention.


Contracts for private storage aid cover a period of 180 days.


Virgin olive oil producers from Portugal, Spain, France, Greece, Italy, Croatia, Cyprus, Malta and Slovenia can apply.