The outlook for the UK’s summer vegetable crops looks decent so far, with fair to good planting conditions and fairly constant weather patterns making for a season of good-quality produce. But the current economic climate has taken over from the weather, and provided this quarter’s metaphorical black cloud.
The last three months have been particularly difficult, and rising costs of fuel and labour have been putting pressure on both businesses and prices. “From a growing point of view, the cost of transport, energy and labour is continually going up, and this will invariably force the price of vegetables to increase,” says one insider. “Generally, vegetable prices have been higher this quarter. From an importer’s point of view, prices are likely to be the same, as we are mostly in fixed contracts. The cost has not passed along the chain to the customer or consumer, because of fixed selling prices, which are squeezing margins.”
The continuing strength of the euro against the pound is now having a real effect on the vegetable industry - not only through the price of imports, but the cost of packaging and fertilisers coming in from Europe.
The industry fears the situation will worsen before it gets better. “All food prices are inflated with the increase of the euro, but it is getting very expensive to import vegetables into the UK,” says one insider. “We have been lucky in the past, as the exchange rate has been steady, but the last eight weeks have been painful. Despite reports, in the main, consumers have not taken on the price increase and, instead, the industry has absorbed it. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next quarter.”
One supplier says increasing prices may bring some unexpected changes to the industry. “The rising cost of fuel and the strength of the euro have really made a difference, and buyers have been reluctant to accept these price increases, thinking that things will change and it will go away,” he says. “I believe this is making the wholesale sector more interesting to sellers, as it can respond faster to price changes.”
But the UK’s spring and summer vegetable crops are on course to be the best the sector has provided for a couple of seasons, mainly due to the weather. “We have seen good sales on broccoli and good demand for most of our crops, and weather patterns have not caused too many problems,” says one grower. “The wet and cold weather has slowed up spring crops slightly, and also caused small planting disruptions, but overall the crops have caught up well and are all back on track.”
Harvest of early season Savoy and pointy cabbage began in Cornwall at the end of April, and quality has been consistently good. “We have had good weather for cabbage,” says one grower. “It has not been as dry as other parts, and it has not rained too much, so we have had the best of both worlds.”
Summer cabbages and leeks will be ready for harvest in East Anglia this month and, even though it is early days, quality is looking good. “In general, the rain over the last couple of weeks after a particularly hot spell in early May has done crops well,” says one grower. “Up until the second week in May, the weather had been very mild and crops were behind. As long as the weather evens out, we should have a good season.”
Imported cabbage from Spain has been good quality, even though the country is experiencing a warmer spring than usual and, according to sources, demand has been high, especially for organic cabbages.
Dutch and Spanish imports of leeks have together forged a consistently good supply of high-quality product. One importer maintains that the best samples of leeks have been from Spain. “The Spanish leeks look really good,” he says. “They are a good size and have a good amount of white on them - up to 22cm.”
The UK summer broccoli crop has come earlier than ever in some parts of the UK, due to good weather and soil conditions at the time of planting. However, the crop is minimal, and Spanish and French broccoli will dominate the marketplace for several weeks to come.
UK courgette crops are due to be harvested this month and have also been planted in good conditions, according to insiders. Courgettes have been coming in from Spain and Morocco for the best part of the quarter, but there have been problems with quality, due to rain and high winds in that part of the world. Importers have now moved on to French courgettes, and the quality of the vegetables has been reported as excellent.
After a terrible year for UK pumpkin growers in 2007, this season looks good, with reports coming in that pumpkin and squash planting went well in the Fenlands. Two weeks in from planting and the crop looks promising. “The rain was welcome,” says one grower, “but it made it problematic to plant, as we do everything by hand. It is very labour intensive when it is wet and windy, but it is a good start for the actual plants.”
This quarter has seen the first harvest of the UK’s early cauliflower, which is grown under polytunnels but, due to a small domestic yield, product has had to be imported from the likes of Poland and Germany.
With the start of the main cauliflower crop still three weeks away, suppliers are going to have to put up with prices as high as £6.20 for eight German cauliflowers for some time to come.
Insiders have put the shortage down to many cauliflower growers going out of business in the last couple of years. “The normal acreage of early cauliflowers has not been planted,” says one supplier. “There are fewer cauliflower growers now in Lincolnshire in particular, as a lot of growers have converted to producing biofuels for guaranteed returns. To grow cauliflower under plastic in this country is not viable - it is not where the money is.
“There is high demand for cauliflower at the moment, and even if we had double of the UK production we have now, it still would not cover it.”
Reports indicate that vegetable growers who were considering giving up the business after bad weather conditions throughout last summer are now finding themselves once again tempted to move on to more profitable crops as prices escalate. “Prices have gone up, and growers are paying 20-30 per cent more for fuel, fertilisers and pesticides,” says one supplier. “Costs have absolutely gone through the roof, and it is very expensive for growers and suppliers alike. The price increase is coming through to the consumer, and I do not see that situation changing a great deal in the future.”
Whether growers leave the vegetable industry or not, one thing is for sure; a tough time is ahead for the sector. “Agronomic costs such as nitrogen, fertiliser, land rents, diesel and red diesel are constantly increasing,” says one grower. “Utility costs are also increasing by 15-22 per cent, and we do believe that the next two years are going to be very difficult for the vegetable industry.”
MUSHROOMS ON THE UP
A total of 70 per cent of mushroom supply in the UK comes from outside the country; therefore, the strengthening of the euro in comparison to sterling is an issue for the mushroom industry, writes Stephen Allen, the Mushroom Bureau’s newly appointed committee member.
However, the UK mushroom market has seen a good value increase, and is currently worth £304 million. The majority of the increase has been driven by inflation, but also by a moderate increase in sales. Feedback from Mushroom Bureau members indicates that the challenge of matching supply and demand has been as tricky as ever. And, as we move into the summer months, there has been the inevitable slowdown in demand. This is not out of the ordinary and conforms to the normal sales pattern in the mushroom industry. The challenge, or opportunity, for the Mushroom Bureau is to ‘de-seasonalise’ mushrooms so they are seen as suitable for barbecue and summer-time eating.
The Mushroom Bureau is a body funded by voluntary contributions from suppliers and growers to the UK, irrespective of their origin. Its primary roles are to develop the UK mushroom market, promote mushrooms and increase consumption of mushrooms, to the benefit of its members.
I am new to the mushroom industry, and I have recently joined the largest mushroom supplier to the UK, Monaghan Mushrooms Ltd, based in Ireland, as group marketing manager. My background is in consumer marketing within many different categories, and my experience lies in making brands more relevant to consumers to grow sales.
In the mushroom industry, we have a fantastic product. What I want to do through the Mushroom Bureau is promote the unique qualities and benefits of mushrooms by making them more relevant to today’s shoppers, in order for the industry to experience healthy profitable growth, and in a way that makes consumers love mushrooms and all they have to offer.
Like many other product categories, the mushroom sector has seen a pretty substantial price increase for consumers. However, there is no indication at this stage that volume is suffering and, for the time being, the pattern in the UK is following other markets around the world. Rising prices and demand can exist side by side, showing that mushrooms are reasonably priced and an inelastic category.
The Mushroom Bureau continues to work hard to promote the sector, and at the beginning of this month organised a ‘Love Mushrooms’ media farm tour and cookery masterclass with Greg Wallace, that consumer food journalists from BBC Good Food, Olive, Prima, Bella and Fresh attended. The campaign aims to tap into the media trend of provenance, highlighting the fact that mushrooms can be picked and on the supermarket shelf within 24 hours. Leading food writer Sophie Conran, celebrity chef Jean-Christophe Novelli and Wallace have provided their favourite mushroom recipes for the media campaign.
New research commissioned by the Mushroom Bureau found that three quarters of UK consumers enjoy mushrooms, and more than a third said mushrooms were their favourite vegetable. Consumers voted for mushrooms in pasta as their favourite way to eat the vegetable, followed by stir fry, casserole and stew. The key focus over the summer will be on taste, versatility and the health benefits of mushrooms, highlighting recipes to push sales in the summer months.
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