Supermarkets slash price of a punnet as fields brim with super-strawberries

Cold spring coupled with heatwave leaves farmers with huge crop of sweeter, juicier and plumper fruit

A SURFEIT of strawberries has led to supermarkets selling super-sized cheaper punnets to prevent them going to waste.

Farmers said the unusually cold spring meant the fruit took longer to ripen, making the strawberries much bigger, sweeter and juicier than usual.

Not only are the strawberries better quality, the recent hot weather caused the fruit to ripen all at once, making for a giant crop.

The glut of fruit prompted supermarkets such as Waitrose to slash the price of a punnet.

Nicki Baggott, the supermarket’s strawberry buyer, said: “Strawberries love the sunshine and with the recent rise in temperatures, we’ve seen a bumper crop of the delicious summer fruit making its way to our shelves.

“As our yields are up, we’ve reduced our prices to reflect this. In particular, our exclusive summer blush strawberries are growing extremely well and are perfect for our customers to use in their puds, pavlovas and Pimm’s.”

Aldi said it had bought an additional 110 tons of strawberries to support British growers, who had too much fruit on their hands. The supermarket will sell larger punnets at £2.95 per kg across many of its stores. Its existing punnet costs £1.39 per 400g.

Julie Ashfield, the Aldi UK managing director of buying, said: “The recent warm weather has led to our growers needing to harvest a vast amount of their crop much later than usual. We always try to … support them in times like this, while at the same time reducing unnecessary food waste. British strawberries are also typically brighter in colour and tastier compared with imported varieties.” Growers will also get a good deal; each farm will be paid the same rate per kg by Aldi as they would have done without the price cut.

Tesco is also running a promotion, selling two of its £2 400g punnets for £3, while Sainsbury’s reduced the price of its 400g punnet from £2 to £1.60.

Farmers are urging customers to get their strawberries while they are still cheap and deliciously sweet.

Nick Marston, the British Summer Fruits chairman, said: “February and March this year were considerably colder than in 2017. The strawberry crops develop more slowly if the weather is cooler. There is a good level of supply, and because they’ve ripened more slowly they are bigger, tastier and juicier than last year.”

However, those hoping the glut will mean discounts at Wimbledon are going to be disappointed.

A spokesman for the tennis competition said: “The strawberries and cream at Wimbledon will once again be priced at £2.50 – the price has remained the same since 2010.”