Spring frosts last week have delayed the start to some speciality lettuce lines in the UK.
According to supermarket supplier G’s marketing, iceberg and romaine lettuce are the main victims. Charlie Kisby, leafy salads manager at G’s Marketing said: “The crossover between imports and the UK was looking good with warm weather moving in, but four consecutive frosty nights last week moved the romaine and iceberg crops back by a few days. Romaine only began its harvest and the weekend and G’s growers were due to begin cutting iceberg as FPJ went to press this week. Little gem and red gem are well into their season and G’s producers are hoping for a warmer, drier summer after three years of cool, raining conditions. Kisby said: “We are definitely deserved of it. The category needs a dry summer both for production and for demand. Nevertheless, we are in for an exciting season as we’ve challenged our production teams in order to bring some change to the category.”
New product development at G's for this year - including the fresh & naked range for Tesco unveiled by freshinfo last week - will see a handful of new varieties as well as different multipacks making their way onto supermarket customers’ shelves to bring growth to the category.
