Spanish growers are warning of a shortfall in iceberg supply from next week until after Christmas.

Murcia producers’ association Proexport has said the growers in the south-eastern region, as well as in neighbouring Almería, have seen their supplies suffer because of an extremely warm November which brought on plantings scheduled for December. These crops have been harvested and now a sudden drop in temperatures in the first few days of this month and reduced light levels have shortened supplies available.

European customers have already been visiting the fields of south-eastern Spain to see at first hand the situation.

Javier Soto, Proexport member and general manager of Agrar Systems, said: “This situation of a forecast reduction in iceberg production is going to prevent our sales from recovering at precisely the point in the season when consumption reaches its peak - the Christmas period of weeks 50-52.”

The UK is the second-most important export market for iceberg from south-eastern Spain after Germany. In 2008, UK consumers accounted for 172,414 tonnes of iceberg.

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