The cost of road transport in the price of a liter of olive oil does not reach 2 cents

The International Road Transport Association (ASTIC) assures that the heavy road transport service has an "almost negligible" impact on the final price of oil, of just two cents.

Regarding the statement issued this week by the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU) suggesting that the 8.6% increase in diesel prices in August could make the price of freight transportation more expensive and, as a consequence, further increase the price of foods, including olive oil.

The association assures that heavy road transport has a very low impact - less than 2 cents - on the final price of a liter of olive oil, which has skyrocketed by 52.5% so far this year and 116% since August 2020.

The leading association of employers of professional land transport in Spain estimates that transporting 21,000 liter bottles of olive oil by truck between the province of Jaén and Madrid (about 370 kilometers) costs less than 400 euros.

For this reason, he insists that the heavy transport of goods by road "is the link in the production, supply and distribution chain that has the least impact on the formation of the final price of this type of product."

"The fact that today a bottle of oil costs more than double what it did just three years ago, despite being one of the products included in the VAT reduction applied from 10% to 5%, has nothing to do with the rates of transport services" say the association, blaming the rise in oil prices on increased costs and climatic factors.

The transporters' association indicates that in the April-June period the rates in the European road freight transport market, contrary to what has happened to fuel, salary costs, tolls, tires, insurance, The price of credit or the trucks themselves have tended to decrease for the third consecutive quarter, according to the European Road Transport Rate Index prepared by the International Road Transport Organization (IRU), Upply and Ti.

In the specific case of Spain, the data from the latest Price Observatory of the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, corresponding to the first quarter of 2023, reflect, according to the organization "the existing gap between costs and prices of road freight transport In our country".

"Between the first quarter of 2022 and the same stretch of 2023, the costs of our sector have grown 6.3 points above the prices received by transporters," concludes the president of Astic, Marcos Basante.