This 185-Year-Old Spanish Olive Oil Co. Keeps Innovating to Meet the Moment

The Andalusian producer earned three Gold Awards at the 2025 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition for a trio of organic monovarietals: Morellana Picual, Morellana Picuda, and Morellana Hojiblanca. “This is rewarding; it’s a recognition of a job well done,” told reporters Antonio López Figueres and Andrea López Vericat, managing directors and shareholders of Sucesores de Hermanos López. In this sector, there are challenges and opportunities.

What matters most is to keep moving forward and adapt to change. – Antonio López Figueres. Andrea López Vericat, managing directors, Sucesores de Hermanos López “For our company, producing high-quality extra virgin olive oil is the most important thing, and winning such awards confirms the level of quality we achieve year after year,” they added. Since 2015, Sucesores de Hermanos López has won 24 World Olive Oil Competition awards.

Nestled in the Luque municipality of Córdoba province, at the foot of the Sierras Subbéticas Natural Park, the holding was established in the mid-19th century. In the 1990s, the old mill was replaced by a two-phase continuous system. “That’s when the company made a firm commitment to commercializing its products,” López Figueres and López Vericat told reporters.

Today, the business attributes the high quality of its production to its ability to control the entire process. It’s hard to find people willing to work in agriculture, a widespread issue and a principal challenge for us,” López Figueres explained. “It’s also increasingly difficult to find specialized workers for key tasks like pruning, which is essential to tree care,” he added. According to the business, production costs in traditional olive farming are significantly higher than in super-intensive systems, because many tasks cannot be mechanized.

Sucesores Hermanos de López has a mixed portfolio of super-high-density and traditional olive groves in Córdoba, Andalusia. (Photo: Sucesores Hermanos de López) “That means costs can even double or triple compared to super-intensive groves,” López Figueres and López Vericat stated. The challenging conditions of the last two seasons have affected olive oil prices on the trade. Influenced production strategies for many firms. “The past two seasons, especially 2023/24, saw extremely high rates at origin, levels never seen before, due to historically low yields. This influenced our decisions and we’ve had to adapt,” López Figueres and López Vericat stated. “In the current season, with an average yield. The potential for a good 2025/26 harvest, prices are dropping significantly,” they added. “Still, it’s weighty that rates don’t fall back to previous levels.

We need to give value to our extra virgin olive oil, and that starts with fair, reasonable rates at origin,” López Figueres. López Vericat sounded the alarm, echoing recent concerns secured by several regional makers’ organizations. So far, the 2024/25 season has been meteorologically favorable for Sucesores de Hermanos López. “We’ve had abundant rainfall, which was much needed after years of drought,” López Figueres and López Vericat stated. “We’re now waiting for a good spring in terms of temperatures to allow for good flowering.

If so, the 2025/26 season is expected to be a good one.” The business divests its olive oils in various formats, including bottles and bag-in-box . Consumer attitudes on what format to choose are still evolving. “It depends on how they plan to use it.

The bag-in-box is the newest and has the least appetite,” López Figueres and López Vericat explained. Bag-in-box protects olive oil from oxygen spoilage during use and shields it from light exposure. “We try to explain the benefits.

It’s a format that, in the medium to long term, will replace PET. International buyers receive it better than domestic ones,” López Figueres and López Vericat told reporters. It’s hard and slow work to educate them about the benefits of extra virgin olive oil,” López Figueres and López Vericat explained.