Ian Dennis managing director of importer and supermarket supplier Das International Ltd. reports that the market for iceberg has improved on the situation of unseasonably warm weather in recent weeks which has brought on an excess of production. 'The situation is certainly better than it was a month ago,' said Dennis. 'Supplies are OK, and with the extra demand from the rest of Europe that we see at this time of year, we will see prices rise.' The predicted gap in production has not really been in evidence yet, however as temperatures are still warm in south-eastern Spain at 15-20°C daytime and 7-10°C night-time in Murcia. 'At sometime in January we would expect to see a bit of a gap, but if the weather suddenly cools, then that could bring things back into line,' said Dennis.

Andrés López of the Murcia federation of co-ops, Fecoam, reports that planting programmes are still overlapping with iceberg usually on a 90-100 day harvesting cycle coming on in just 45-50 days. 'Some growers have been forced to leave the smallest, lower quality heads in the ground.' Said López. 'It is a serious situation, because this is a high yielding, good production year.'

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