Leafy salads in the UK are running about a week behind schedule following night-time frosts and cool weather well into May.

“We’ve had very cold wet weather and frost at night in April and particularly in May,” said David Piccaver, of the British Leafy Salads Association, which covers growers and pre-packers of iceberg and leafy lines such as lollo rosso, lollo biondo and endive. “All the growing areas have come on stream nearly at the same time as they have all had cold weather, although parts of the country have been very dry - East Anglia for example - while the west and Midlands have been very wet.”

Frosts have struck coastal production areas along the south and east of England hardest and have hit production by damaging plants, which can cause browning once cut and packed.

Tunnel crops in the UK all came on stream at once creating a week long gap before outdoor production, giving Spain a brief fillip and return to the marketplace.

“This is proving a difficult season to manage in terms of ensuring continuity,” said Piccaver. “For example, rainfall has meant some growers have not been able to plant for a week. It has been a difficult spring but we have had a lot of support from our customers who have understood the situation.”

Managing availability is likely to continue to be an issue as now that outdoor production is being cut, crops from different areas are still coming on stream at the same time.

Demand has been disappointing so far as cool weather has also been suppressing consumption. “Quite a few growers have ploughed product back in as uptake has only been about half what we would expect for the time of year,” he said.

The sector is trialing new varieties in search for sweeter types. “This should help demand quite a bit as generally speaking, people prefer sweeter tastes to bitter ones,” said Piccaver. “And leaves can be more bitter if crops have grown slowly as they have this year.”

Growers are also looking at new types to give different leaf shape or colour and disease and aphid resistant iceberg.

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