Making a salad or a stir-fry in London, Manchester or Brighton is getting difficult. The main British supermarkets have restricted the number of certain vegetables that customers can buy due to a shortage of supply from Spain and Morocco, the companies themselves have reported.
Tesco, Aldi, Asda and Morrisons have limited the amount of tomatoes, peppers or cucumbers that can be purchased, while Sainsbury's, Lidl, Waitrose and M
Supermarkets have alleged that their suppliers in Spain and Morocco have reduced their exports because their crops have been affected by the bad weather that has occurred in the last weeks of this winter in southern Europe (too much heat and little rain ) and in North Africa (cold and even snow). The director of food and sustainability of the British Retail Trade Consortium, Andrew Opie, explained this Wednesday that "difficult weather conditions in southern Europe and north Africa have interrupted the harvest of some fruits and vegetables."
Opie conceded that the outage may "last a few weeks" but assured that the country's supermarkets, which in some cases have empty shelves, will be able to manage the shortage by turning to other farmers.
"In the meantime, some stores are introducing temporary limits on the number of products customers can buy to ensure there is availability for everyone," he said.
Asked by journalists about this rationing, the British Minister for Agriculture and the Environment, Therese Coffey, said that "we cannot control the climate in Spain."
Tesco and Aldi have limited the sale of tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers to three units per person, while Asda also restricts lettuce, salad bags, broccoli, cauliflower and tubs of raspberries to the same number. Morrisons limits, for its part, the sale of cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce and peppers to two.
In the last three to four weeks, Moroccan growers and suppliers have had to deal with low temperatures and torrential rains, which has affected the volume of fruit reaching Britain. The problems in Morocco began in January with unusually cold night temperatures affecting tomato ripening. Added to this were the cancellations of ferries due to bad weather, which affected deliveries by truck.
For its part, the Spanish Federation of Associations of Exporting Producers of Fruit, Vegetables, Flowers and Live Plants (Fepex) speaks of a 30-40% reduction in harvests. The Spanish export of fresh fruit and vegetables in 2022 totaled 12 million tons, which is 10.4% less than in 2021. Only in Almería, COAG estimates a drop of 25% in cucumbers or 29% in tomatoes. For this reason, among other things, the prices of vegetables in Spain do not fall.
