ATHENS- Ol­ive oil, an essential part of the Greek culture and cui­sine, is becoming a luxury good because of skyrocket­ing prices, the president of one of Greece’s major olive producers’ union said Sat­urday. The wholesale price of olive oil in Crete, one of the country’s biggest ol­ive oil producing regions, is currently around €8.40 ($9) per litre, which means its retail price would be around €12 to €15 dur­ing the winter, Myron Chi­letzakis, vice president of the Heraklion Agricultural Cooperative (EASH) told major broadcaster OpenTV. Also speaking to public broadcaster ERT, he argued that 80 percent of the coun­try’s olive oil production is exported and that is also behind skyrocketing prices domestically. Chiletzakis said that Greece, as Türkiye did, should have banned the olive oil export to pre­vent that situation. Olive oil has become a luxury good with its average price on shelves reaching €13, he said, noting the price rose 35 percent in August alone. The Turkish Trade Ministry announced Aug 1 a three-month export ban on olive oil in bulk and in barrels because of the shortage of olive oil production in Mediterranean countries and subsequent negative effects on domestic prices