Veg shortage will lead to months of rationing
SHOPPERS are facing months of rationing at supermarkets after extreme weather in southern Europe ruined crops, it emerged yesterday.
Freezing conditions followed by flooding means lettuces are in short supply.
Stocks of courgettes, red and green peppers, broccoli and cabbages are also low.
Other veg starting to disappear from UK shelves include aubergines, spinach, rocket and cauliflower.
Extreme
All have been badly affected by extreme weather which has ravaged the Mediterranean farming belt.
The crisis has led to rationing of three iceberg lettuces per person being introduced at some stores, with retail experts warning the shortages could go on for months.
Beleaguered suppliers say unusual weather conditions in southern Europe are to blame. Tesco said it was “experiencing some availability issues”. It added: “We are working with our suppliers to resolve them as quickly as possible.”
A notice in stores reads: “Due to continued weather problems in Spain there is a shortage of iceberg lettuces.
“To protect the availability to all our customers, we are limiting bulk purchases to three per person. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”
A Morrisons spokesman said: “As a result of the fact that the Spanish harvest has been very difficult this year, we have just about enough coming in to supply our customers.
“We want to stop local tradespeople and restaurateurs coming in and buying lots of stock.”
A Sainsbury’s spokesman admitted: “Severe weather has affected crops but we are working with our suppliers to maintain supply for our customers.”
And Asda said: “A run of unusually bad weather has resulted in availability issues on a small number of salad items and vegetables such as courgettes and aubergines.
“We are doing everything we can to support our growers and get back up to full supply as quickly as possible, but we apologise if we’re running a bit low on some products in the short term.”
Aldi and Lidl said they were not suffering shortages.
Bizarre
“Aldi is not limiting purchases and does have lettuce and other salad items in stock,” a spokesman said.
A spokesman for Lidl said: “We are not experiencing any stock issues and, as such, aren’t limiting our customers to the quantity of veg they wish to purchase.”
As well as growers in southern Spain, farmers in Italy, Greece and Turkey have also been hit by bad weather.
Suppliers warned that if things do not improve in the coming weeks the problem may continue until April, with prices rising as a result.
Coos Hessing, of Hessing Super Fresh, said the situation for lettuce was “particularly severe”.
“There have simply been too many cold days, and what’s most bizarre about this situation is that it has hit all of south-eastern Europe.
“We have seen this before, but you’d need to go back to 15 years ago.”
Spain normally supplies half the vegetables on the European market during the winter months.
Supermarkets have been forced to look further afield to meet demand – with supplies coming in from Egypt and the west coast of the US, more than 5,000 miles from Britain.
Fepex, Spain’s largest growers’ association, said problems would remain until at least early April for leafy vegetables grown in the open air. Availability would depend on the weather this month and next.