A Stocks and Shares ISA can be a powerful wealth-building tool for investors prepared to play the long game. By regularly purchasing dividend shares and reinvesting the income, it’s possible to build a substantial portfolio over time.

For example, what if you invested £1,666 every month for 20 years at a healthy yield? Let’s crunch the numbers.

Making the most of the ISA allowance

The annual Stocks and Shares ISA allowance currently stands at £20,000. That works out to roughly £1,666 a month, allowing investors to build wealth without paying tax on dividends or capital gains.

Over 20 years, contributing £1,666 monthly would add up to £399,840. That’s a significant sum already. But thanks to the power of compounding, the final portfolio could be worth considerably more.

The amount depends on the returns achieved. And one way to generate these is by investing in quality dividend-paying businesses.

Please note that tax treatment depends on the individual circumstances of each client and may be subject to change in future. The content in this article is provided for information purposes only. It is not intended to be, neither does it constitute, any form of tax advice. Readers are responsible for carrying out their own due diligence and for obtaining professional advice before making any investment decisions.

Turning dividends into long-term wealth

Suppose I could achieve an average dividend yield of 5.5% each year. Assuming I reinvested every dividend, maintained that yield, and saw absolutely no share price growth, my £1,666 monthly contributions could grow to approximately £726,000 after 20 years.

If the contributions were switched off and the 5.5% yield continued, that would equate to nearly £40,000 of annual dividends.

Of the £726,000 portfolio value, just under £400,000 would come from my own contributions. The remaining £326,000 would be generated through compounding returns. That’s quite a result without relying on rising share prices!

Of course, this calculation assumes a constant yield, monthly compounding, and no investment fees. Actual dividends are paid less frequently, and future returns will almost certainly fluctuate.

Nor is a dividend ever guaranteed. That’s why I think focusing on sustainable payouts from high-quality companies is far more important than simply chasing the highest yields.

A dividend stock worth considering?

One UK dividend share that catches my attention is Aviva (LSE: AV). At 730.2p, as I write on Friday afternoon (6 November), its shares currently offer a 5.5% dividend yield. And the underlying business has been performing well.

During the first half of 2026, the company’s operating profit climbed 24% to £1.33bn, while its interim dividend increased 7% to 14p per share.

The acquisition of Direct Line also presents an opportunity to unlock cost savings and strengthen its position in the UK insurance market. Management’s targeting £225m in annual cost synergies from the deal.

However, there are risks. Integrating such a large acquisition isn’t straightforward, and competitive pressures in the insurance market could squeeze margins. Meanwhile, unexpectedly high claims costs or weaker investment markets could weigh on earnings and future dividend growth.

These are important considerations, particularly given the potential 20-year timeframe I’m looking at.

Nevertheless, with its diversified insurance and wealth operations, improving profitability, and attractive dividend yield, I think the company deserves consideration from income-focused investors.

As for my own portfolio, I already have plenty of exposure to financial services. So while I like the income potential here, there are other opportunities I’ll be considering ahead of Aviva right now. 

What income stock do we like better than Rolls Royce right now?

One of our Share Advisor analysts has just released a brand new stock report that we think is a must-read for any investor looking to try and generate potential income.

And the best bit is that you can see if for yourself, right now, absolutely free of charge!

No jargon. No hard sell. Just a clear look at an income share we think is worth your time.

Ken Hall does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned.

A Biden-appointed federal judge ordered ICE’s Denver field office director to appear in court Monday amid concerns that immigration authorities violated judicial release orders by immediately rearresting detainees, including at least one instance outside a detention center.

Nathan Rasper has been summoned as part of an inquiry involving 14 people who were arrested after being released from immigration detention. 

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) maintains that ICE complied with lawful court orders and that a judicial release order does not permanently shield individuals from immigration enforcement.

“When an illegal alien is ordered released by a judge, that does not immunize the alien from immigration enforcement for all time,” DHS said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “ICE may seek to rearrest the alien in a way that complies with the judicial decision. To suggest that ICE cannot do this is nothing short of sabotage.”

OBAMA, BIDEN JUDGES DRAW FRESH FIRE AS TRUMP’S IMMIGRATION COURT CLASHES HEAT UP: ‘ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE’

The Nov. 5 order issued by U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney followed an earlier ruling requiring the government to identify every case in Colorado since Oct. 27 in which ICE detained someone within 12 hours of a court-ordered release. 

Federal officials subsequently identified 14 petitioners who had been arrested again after being released, but the filing did not provide the precise timing of when the rearrests occurred. 

She directed officials to provide the exact dates and times of those releases and rearrests and identify any additional individuals immediately detained following court-ordered releases.

The additional reporting requirements followed a Nov. 4 hearing at which Sweeney questioned whether ICE was circumventing judicial orders by briefly releasing detainees before immediately taking them back into custody. At that hearing, she ordered Rasper to appear at a follow-up hearing Monday to address the agency’s practices.

The inquiry stems in part from the case of Ramon Quintero Alvarez, who was released from immigration detention Oct. 27 before ICE immediately took him back into custody, according to a government court filing.

In a Nov. 3 court filing, federal government attorneys said they would not submit a legal brief defending the lawfulness of Alvarez’s continued detention.

The immigrant detention center operated by the privately-owned GEO Group for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Aurora, Colo. (Jim West/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

The filing prompted Sweeney to convene the Nov. 4 hearing at which Assistant U.S. attorneys Andrew Soler and Kevin Traskos appeared alongside ICE Assistant Field Office Director Nichole Black, who testified under oath about the circumstances surrounding Alvarez’s rearrest.

APPEALS COURT BLOCKS TRUMP ADMIN FROM HOLDING MIGRANTS WITHOUT BOND FOR OVER 90 DAYS

At a Nov. 4 hearing, Sweeney ordered Alvarez released and barred immigration authorities from detaining him again unless the government demonstrated, by clear and convincing evidence at a bond hearing, that he posed a flight risk or danger to the community.

The government must submit the additional information requested by Sweeney by 8 a.m. Monday, ahead of Rasper’s scheduled court appearance later that morning. The proceedings could shed light on ICE’s compliance with judicial release orders, but Sweeney has not indicated whether she intends to pursue contempt proceedings.

An agent escorts a person in custody. (Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu via Getty Images)

The dispute comes as ICE faces similar legal challenges across Colorado, where other Biden-appointed federal judges, including U.S. District Judges Nina Wang and S. Kato Crews, have presided over cases involving disputes over immigration detention and court-ordered releases.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Fox News Digital reached out to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado for comment.

NPR’s Rob Schmitz speaks with Austin-based political commentator David Griscom. He authored a book titled The Myth of Red Texas which tells the story of economic populism in Texas.

ROB SCHMITZ, HOST:

As the votes came in on election night Tuesday, some of the most shocking results were in Texas. The blue wave did not stop at the border of the Lone Star State. Democrats swept the top races in Texas with James Talarico winning a Senate seat and Gina Hinojosa winning the race for governor.

Austin-based political commentator David Griscom was perhaps not as surprised to see his state flip. Earlier this year, he published a book titled “The Myth Of Red Texas: Cowboys, Populism, And Class War In The Radical South.” He joins us now. Welcome.

DAVID GRISCOM: Thank you so much for having me. It’s been a really wonderful past few days.

SCHMITZ: What great timing, with a book title like that. Texas, obviously, as you’ve written, has a reputation for being a reliably red state, but as we’ve seen, it’s a lot more complicated than that. How did Texas Democrats pull this off?

GRISCOM: Well, I think in a lot of ways, you saw Texas Democrats returning to our roots here. You know, many people forget this, but Texas was once the hotbed of kind of left-wing, pro-working-class politics. Going all the way back to the 1890s, we were the heart of the populist movement, and it’s no accident that James Talarico, Clayton Tucker and Gina Hinojosa all call themselves populists.

Using this kind of rhetoric, I think, really focuses on the billionaires and the folks who are harming our democracy. And I think that gave a lot of people who might have been waiting for an excuse to maybe buck the Republican Party, which has dominated state politics here for so long, the opportunity to do so.

SCHMITZ: Let’s go back in history a little. You know, Texas politics are often associated, you know, with oil billionaires, conservative evangelical voters and the Republican establishment. You know, your book, “The Myth Of Red Texas,” tells the story of, you know, working-class, populist tradition that oftentimes goes overlooked. Tell us a little bit about that.

GRISCOM: So there’s multiple phases of this. It’s an entire kind of generation or tradition in Texas politics that has been forgotten. My book opens up talking about barbed wire, which we all associate with Texas. But when barbed wire first comes to Texas, it was fiercely resisted. There was an episode called The Fence Cutting War, and this happened all across the state, where working-class cowboys got together and they started cutting down these new barbed wire fences because they saw these as a tool that was being used to dispossess them.

This then flows into the populist movement, which was born right here in Texas in Lampasas, where a bunch of farmers got together and they started asking themselves why those who work most get least and those who work least get most. And they started to look around and realize that it was the monopoly powers, the power of the banks, and it was the corruption of the politicians.

SCHMITZ: I want to dig in a little bit on that and the populism aspect of this. Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa has embraced the populist label with open arms. You know, I want to play a clip here from an interview that she did before the election with The New York Times.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

GINA HINOJOSA: Populism is about economic power. We see that things are so stacked against working people in this country. Fighting culture wars at this time is not a winnable fight, and that is not the fight of 2026.

SCHMITZ: And that’s really interesting. I mean, she’s separating her and Talarico’s style of politics from Democrats elsewhere, who have sort of engaged more in identity politics. Is there something uniquely Texan about Hinojosa’s or Talarico’s approach as Democrats?

GRISCOM: Absolutely. So again, you know, Texas has had major swings before where everyday working people – cotton farmers, Black and white – they were able to unite working people, the vast majority of people, on messages about the ways that they can improve their life. And that’s what Gina and James were able to do. They didn’t run a partisan message, and that is a long tradition that has existed in this state.

I’d also add, if I could, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – after 2024, she made a very strong point about how effective some of the anti-trans ads that the Trump administration put out were – you know, they are for they/them, Trump is for you. And AOC said, like, this was a problem with Democrats. When a lot of people were feeling economic pain, they felt that the things that Democrats were interested in weren’t immediately important to their lives.

And in this election, the table was kind of reversed because all of the ads in Texas were about anti-LGBTQ things, anti-trans. And when somebody’s talking about that – in this case being Republicans – when you’re really struggling to get by, it does really show that these folks are out of touch with your economic needs, and that really helped Gina and James, for sure.

SCHMITZ: That is David Griscom, author of “The Myth Of Red Texas.” David, thank you.

GRISCOM: Thank you so much.

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One of the most magical Christmas markets in Europe is open for only one day a year. The Hallstatt Christmas Market in Austria is an authentic, community-driven event held on December 8 every year.

The festive market takes place in the tiny square of the picturesque town of Hallstatt, and it lasts just one day because it is tied to a public holiday, the day of the Immaculate Conception, which is a national holiday in Austria. The village has only a few hundred residents but attracts a million visitors from around the world annually. Despite the small size of the market, the charming wooden stalls in the cobbled square, surrounded by pastel houses, make it one of the most idyllic destinations for a winter break.

A travel expert who recently visited Hallstatt explained on the travel blog In Old Cities that “out of the 20-some Christmas markets I visited during a month in Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, and Germany, Hallstatt’s tiny, unique market was one of my favourites”.

On Facebook, visitors shared their thoughts with one saying: “We went last year. It was small and cosy. The shops were open, and we spent the night, took the funicular up to the lookout, purchased some locally made ornaments and gifts, food, etc. It’s beautiful.”

On TripAdvisor, people described the town of Hallstatt as “walking into a fairytale”. They said: “Most people would have seen the jaw-dropping beauty of Hallstatt from the pages of travel books or the internet, but to fully appreciate the world’s most beautiful town, exploring the Old Town of Hallstatt is a must.

“The entire town looks like something out of the children’s fairy-tale books. The Old Town is compact enough for visitors to freely explore without any guides.

“At the heart of the Old Town is Marktplatz, the bustling market square with all the typical shops and restaurants to feast your senses for shopping and dining, as well as to soak in the unique atmosphere of this charming town.”

Holidaymakers can reach Hallstatt by flying from major UK airports to Salzburg Airport, the nearest airport, before continuing their journey by car, taxi or bus. The journey from Salzburg takes approximately one and a half hours.

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In its post-Endgame era, the noise around Marvel’s new hit series, VisionQuest, has already proven to be one of the cinematic universe’s most standout successors. A follow-up to the acclaimed WandaVision, this chapter is among one of the newer installments helping usher in the super studio’s next storytelling approach — which seems increasingly interested in putting more character stories at the center of its grand CGI theatrics. And for audiences, the angle seems to be working.

Following its Oct. 13 debut on Disney+, VisionQuest quickly made its mark on the platform, accumulating 639 million minutes streamed and earning an 83% Popcornmeter score after 500+ reviews. Now, Nielsen’s latest streaming chart rankings show that the buzzy Marvel show is still flying high, cementing itself as one of the biggest shows on streaming for the week of Oct. 19 through Oct. 25.

A popular measuring system known for tracking the United States’ most-viewed shows and movies on streaming, Nielsen’s streaming ratings report that VisionQuest has earned itself a spot on the top ten list for original series during the week of Oct. 19. It sits at spot number seven, pulling in 490 million minutes with the release of its third and fourth episodes.

Netflix’s political thriller The Diplomat — which just debuted its Season 4 — sits at #1 with 1.19 billion minutes, and The Terminal List joins in at #2 with 830 million. Here is the full breakdown of what else is trending on streaming right now:

Struggling to process his restored memories and identity after finally retrieving them in the WandaVision finale, VisionQuest follows Marvel’s White Vision (Paul Bettany) as he tries to reconnect with himself and battle rising AI threats. Notably, the show also features the iconic return of Ultron, the AI machine audiences first met in Marvel’s 2015 Avengers: Age of Ultron and who is famously voiced by James Spader‘s unsettling villain persona.

VisionQuest episodes one through seven are currently streaming on Disney+, with the series finale premiering Nov. 10. According to reports from Collider, VisionQuest plans to be one of Marvel’s final series releases (for now, at least) before cutting back on their live-action Disney+ offerings.

Don’t worry, this news does not include Daredevil: Born Again — which is currently in production — and potential miniseries under the “Marvel Presents” and “Marvel Spotlight” banners.

Steam is home to a huge amount of free games, but they’re not always worth your time. And with heavy hitters like Ocarina of Time, and GTA 6 releasing this month, your dance card is probably full. However, in a rare treat, Steam gamers can soon get their hands on a truly generational 10/10 RPG for the low cost of nothing at all. And even if you don’t play it right away, it’s a freebie you shouldn’t miss.

PC gamers will soon be able to get their hands on Fallout: New Vegas completely free. This might not seem like the biggest deal, given the game is already available with Xbox Game Pass and frequently goes on sale for less than the price of a cup of coffee, but it’s an incredible open-world RPG being given away for free. It also happens to be the best Fallout game, depending on who you ask.

Starting December 2, the Lenovo Legion Gaming Community will be giving away free Steam keys for Fallout: New Vegas. To claim it, all you need to do is follow these steps:

• Create a free Lenovo Legion Community account
• Connect a verified Twitch account to it
• Visit Lenovo’s official giveaway page for Fallout: New Vegas
• Join the queue on December 2 at 12:00 PM ET
• Claim the free voucher and redeem it on Gamesplanet to get a Steam key
• Redeem the key on Steam to add Fallout: New Vegas to your library

If that sounds like too much hassle, and you can just afford the $9.99 it costs when it’s not even on sale, maybe just go buy it. It’s also worth noting there are a finite number of keys, so you’re not guaranteed one. Still, if you’re dead-set on getting a great game for nothing, you’ll want to mark your calendar for December 2.

It’s an interesting time to be a Fallout fan, with Fallout 5 finally officially on the very, very distant horizon. As first reported by Windows Central, both The Elder Scrolls VI and Fallout 5 will be developed in a new version of Bethesda’s proprietary tech, the Creation Engine 3. As Todd Howard explains, this engine has been developed specifically to facilitate their plans with those two games: “When we build these worlds, it starts with the tech. A lot of people think engine, they think rendering, but there’s so much more that goes into it from a tool side and a system side. For the kind of worlds that we want to build and also knowing that we were going to be doing Fallout 5, and just how do we do those simultaneously in a way where it’s not start and stop. And we’re really happy. I can’t say enough about our tech team. It’s just incredible. Our designers ask for so much crazy stuff, and our tech team finds a way to do it. And I think that’s really defined our games where you feel like anything is possible.”

An official Fallout: New Vegas remaster is also in development, but it doesn’t have an official release date just yet.

Systems

Released

October 19, 2010

ESRB

M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Use of Drugs

Developer(s)

Obsidian Entertainment

Engine

Gamebryo

U2 have weighed in on Macklemore’s removal from Ed Sheeran’s U.S. tour, backing the rapper’s right to speak out while cautioning against blaming Sheeran.

“We totally support Macklemore’s right as an artist to say what he wanted to say,” the Edge said in an interview with BBC News. “I don’t think Ed should be vilified,” he added, acknowledging the difficult position Sheeran had been in. The guitarist also praised the artists who left Sheeran’s tour in solidarity, framing the dispute as a matter of free expression.

Drummer Larry Mullen Jr. went further. “Artists can choose whether they want to be politically active or not. It’s a human right,” he said. “But we as a band will fight for the right to speak your mind as long as it doesn’t incite violence. And even if we disagree with it or don’t like it, nobody has a right – no billionaire, no promoter, no owner has the right to censor anybody. They will definitely not be censoring us ever.”

Macklemore was dropped from the North American leg of Sheeran’s Loop Tour in September after two opening sets at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, where he said “Free Palestine,” spoke about Gaza and the West Bank, and performed his protest song “Hind’s Hall.” Promoter Messina Touring Group said venues on the remaining dates would not allow the shows to go ahead with him on the bill.

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft confirmed he barred the rapper from Gillette Stadium, citing his comments and what Kraft called “a broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery.”

Sheeran said the decision belonged to the promoter. Several acts left the tour in response, including Finneas, Lukas Graham and Irish folk band Beoga, which had been performing with Sheeran each night. Sheeran later opened a show in Philadelphia by apologizing for “mistakes” in his handling of the situation.

Macklemore has since played three sold-out Free Palestine benefit concerts in Dublin, Paris and London, with guests including Hozier, Kneecap and Beoga, raising money for organizations supporting Palestinians.

U2 release Carnaval De Luz, their 16th studio album and first full-length of new material in nine years, on Nov. 13. The album closes with “Torn,” a duet with the late Dolly Parton that the band says was her last recorded vocal performance.

Joe Gorga‘s turn as “The Don” came to an end on Episode 4 of The Mob. The Real Housewives of New Jersey star heard rumblings that some players wanted to overthrow him as The Don, and he knew Aida Turturro and Harry Jowsey were the names being thrown around to replace him. He chose to whack Turturro and eliminate her from the game, which was the wrong move, as Jowsey received the majority vote to become The Don.

With Jowsey now in a position of power, he had the opportunity to eliminate two players, and Gorga was one of them, along with Romeo Miller.

“I should have whacked Harry first, but it was just too juicy and too good [to keep in him on the show],” Gorga told TV Insider. “I’m not about winning the game. I’m about creating a good show and having everybody argue and fight against each other because that’s where I come from.”

He confirmed that his decision to whack Turturro was for the entertainment value of keeping Jowsey in the game. Gorga admittedly knew Jowsey was “coming for me” once he became The Don, but still wasn’t ready to get rid of him. “I couldn’t get him out yet. I [also] wanted to see what was going on between him and Demi [Engemann],” he added.

Jowsey and Engemann were against each other from Episode 1 due to his friendship with some of her nemeses from The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. Gorga, meanwhile, struck up an alliance with Engemann, although he said that Miller was his “real” number one ally.

“I like what I did. I liked to create the drama. It was fun,” Gorga said. “It was fun while it lasted. I know when you come in hot in these kinds of games, everybody wants to take you out fast. What are you going to do?”

As for his decision to keep money envelopes for himself as The Don, instead of dispersing them more evenly among the other players, Gorga shared, “Screw them because that is the game. This is the mob world. Harry, when he became The Don, he gave all his money out. When I did his podcast, he goes, I should have kept that money.’ I go, “I know, you stupid.” The mob keeps their money. They always take their cut. See, everyone in this game is trying to be nice to keep the votes coming in, but really, the way you’re supposed to play the game, you got to eat too. The house has to eat. If you’re in charge and you’re the boss, the boss makes money.”

The Mob, New Episodes, Mondays, Hulu

Stock markets were getting excited about the looming Anthropic flotation, following all the fun surrounding the Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or SpaceX (NASDAQ: SPCX) stock IPO. They may have jumped the gun.

Plenty of people were worried about a potential AI bubble before SpaceX floated in June, but the IPO generated its own momentum.

SpaceX shares floated at $135 and closed their first day at $160. They rocketed to an all-time high of $225.64 on June 16, briefly valuing Elon Musk’s rocket company at close to $3trn.

Are we in an AI bubble?

I already had exposure through Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust, which bought an early stake in Musk’s venture. But I would have sat out the IPO anyway, believing it would take time for SpaceX shares to settle and establish some kind of measurable value. I still don’t think we’re there yet.

Investors were gearing up for more action as Claude chatbot developer Anthropic moved closer to its own launch pad. Many will be having second thoughts today, as AI and US technology stocks plunge across the board.

The S&P 500 slumped 4.4% on Thursday (November 5), wiping out trillions of dollars in market value. SpaceX shares fell 9% on the day and are down around 26% over the past month.

Even before the sell-off, there were concerns about Anthropic, which has committed almost $900bn to computing and infrastructure, while continuing to report hefty losses.

Anthropic had been targeting a November flotation valuation of around $1.5trn. Some prospective investors now reckon $1trn is more realistic, while others doubt about whether its planned IPO timetable can hold, given current market turmoil.

At The Twelfth Magpie, we often like buying shares on bad news, seeing it as an opportunity to pick up good companies at temporarily reduced prices, then sit back and wait for them to prove their long-term value.

But it depends on the stock. It’s much harder to do that when there’s no reliable way of measuring what a company’s really worth.

I’d steer clear of Tesla talk

SpaceX is still valued at around $1.7trn, despite recent falls. Personally, I’ve been put off by talk of Musk potentially merging Tesla into SpaceX to create one supersized conglomerate. I think Tesla has shot its bolt and wouldn’t consider buying its shares today. Nor would I want to buy another company that might swallow it.

Investors considering SpaceX should approach with caution, even after the recent reversal. And right now, I’d say exactly the same about Anthropic, assuming its IPO goes ahead.

Many investors already have all the US technology exposure they need after the extraordinary gains of recent years. This sell-off could create opportunities but it might also have further to go.

The technology sector has suffered painful setbacks before and recovered. But AI’s demanding extraordinary amounts of money, land and energy, while US models face competition from cheaper Chinese rivals. I wouldn’t consider either Anthropic or SpaceX right now.

I’m not writing off the AI revolution. But in my view, it’s time for investors to tread carefully. Bargain hunters might find this FTSE 100 growth stock offers better value after recent falls…

What growth stock do we like better than SpaceX right now?

One of our Share Advisor analysts has just released a brand new stock report that we think is a must-read for any investor looking to try and generate potential growth.

And the best bit is that you can see it for yourself, right now, absolutely free of charge!

No jargon. No hard sell. Just a clear look at a growth share idea we think is worth your time.

Harvey Jones owns shares in Scottish Mortgage.

On Friday, Spain’s agriculture ministry ordered farmers to hold back 12% of their production until the end of September 2027, requiring them to store supplies on their farms or at third-party facilities.

“The measure aims to ensure farmers’ profitability and also to protect the interests of olive oil buyers,” it said, according to the Financial Times, adding that “greater stability to the market” will benefit producers and consumers.

While the move is unprecedented, the European Union allows olive oil supplies to be held back, unless it leads to excessive market distortion.

The current harvest season for so-called “liquid gold” began in September, and favorable weather this past spring promises to reverse years of drought and heat that kept olive production low.

This season, Spanish olive oil production is projected to jump 23% to 1.6 millions tons, marking the fourth-largest harvest ever. The agriculture ministry seeks to keep 188,000 tons off the market.

But expectations for more supply have already sent olive oil prices down. At mills in Andalusia, they averaged 2.93 euros per kilogram last weekend, down about 15% in about two months.

The olive oil industry has pushed back against the government’s attempt to prop up prices, pointing out the market is global while the order only applies to Spanish producers.

Kyle Holland, senior analyst at commodity data firm Expana, also noted that olive oil degrades over time, telling that FT that after several months in storage ”very quickly that olive oil is not going to be extra virgin anymore.”

He added that top olive oil buyers already have hefty supplies, so ordering farmers to store away some production would have little immediate impact on prices. 

Spain isn’t the only country dealing with wild swings in key commodities.

The Quebec Maple Syrup Producers, which oversees Canada’s strategic syrup reserve, recently warned the stockpile will be completely empty by February.

While new supplies will continue to be produced, the reserve won’t be able to help ease any wobbles in output, which depends heavily on the weather and can be volatile.

Demand has increased in recent years as producers have diversified to more market beyond the U.S., but last year saw an especially big spike after President Donald Trump launched his global trade war.

To get ahead of anticipated tariffs, Americans rushed to buy up Canadian syrup supplies. As a result, total syrup exports jumped nearly 16% last year, up from 9% growth in 2024.

Meanwhile, the Iran war has forced oil-consuming countries around the world to drain crude stockpiles. In the U.S., the Strategic Petroleum Reserve has fallen to the lowest level since 1982.

Elsewhere, Japan has a rice reserve that had to be drawn down last year as prices soared amid bad weather and looming threats from natural disasters that sparked panic buying. But this year, Japan has already swung to a record surplus.

And China tapped its strategic pork reserve in 2019 after an outbreak of swine fever sent prices higher. But this year, prices have slumped as the anemic consumer economy has weighed on demand while the government’s prior encouragement to boost production has now resulted in oversupply.

Pork prices have plunged 39% over the last four years. To help prop up the market, China has repeatedly purchased pork for the strategic reserve.