Heatwave pushes up price of fruit and veg

SHOPPERS face higher prices for fruit and veg because the UK heatwave has left crops ‘cooking in the fields’.

Vegetables such as broccoli, carrots, peas and onions have been dramatically affected by the soaring temperatures and lack of rain.

Total harvests are down, with produce smaller than normal and more likely to carry signs of heat damage.

As a result, growers have asked retailers to relax their rules on the size and shape of produce they will accept.

The supermarket price of broccoli, at £1.54, is up by 25.8 per cent a kilo compared with a year ago – after the high temperatures have simply stopped the plants growing, according to research published by The Grocer.

With temperatures predicted to soar to 34C (93.2F) in southern parts of the UK today, food suppliers warned of the effect of the heatwave in the fields.

Paul Murphy of Yes Chef, which supplies produce to restaurants, said: ‘Broccoli is cooking in the fields. Farmers can’t get them out of the ground quick enough before the sun yellows them. We’ve not experienced anything like this in decades.

‘The prices we expect to see over the next couple of weeks could be nothing compared with what’s in store for autumn if the heat has done the damage growers think.’

Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, said: ‘The hot, dry conditions we have seen…means the pressure on prices will continue for some time to come.’

The price of a kilo bag of ownlabel carrots is 8.3 per cent more than last year, at 65p on average, while a pack of three large onions is up 3.5 per cent to an average of 75p. An iceberg lettuce is now 52p on average, up from 49p at this time last year.

A number of supermarkets have now relaxed their standards to accept vegetables that are smaller than normal. For example, Aldi has cut the size of its pre-packaged broccoli heads from 360g to 335g.

Morrisons has relaxed its specifications on lettuce, cucumber, celery, herbs and peppers, while Tesco has made allowances on the size and appearance of several crops, including Cornish early potatoes, strawberries, apricots and iceberg lettuce.

The harvests of grain crops, such as wheat, barley and oats, are expected to be at a five-year low across Britain and Europe because high temperatures have shortened the growing season.

The Met Office is predicting that the UK could see warmer-thanaverage temperatures continuing into the autumn.