Supplies across a range of salad lines are being affected by a hiatus in availability from Spain.
Cucumber prices in particular were high in the UK this week at up to £9 on wholesale markets - an increase of £1 on last week’s levels in some cases.
“All those growers who planted early have taken most of the cues off the plants now,” said Paz Milazzo of UK Salads. “We therefore have a bit of a gap until [production in the area around] Motril comes on stream and that should ease up the supply situation. We are expecting that will be at the end of the week or maybe next week, but it will depend on the weather out there.”
However, temperatures have fallen in southern and eastern Spain. “The older plants have either finished production now or the quality of the cucumbers and courgettes they are producing is not good enough for export,” said Quique Oliver of Spanish exporter Agriveg. “But the new plants are very susceptible to slight changes in temperature and it has been a little colder. This slows thing down.”
He added that high winds earlier in the week have also brought kaki fruit tumbling from the trees, which will affect crop volume of the specialist line from the Valencia region.
Iceberg is falling prey to peaks and troughs in output from Spain reflected in lighter prices.
And markets welcomed the first sendings of Canary Islands tomatoes which made around £6 for 6kg boxes on London markets. The first direct shipment from Tenerife left on Wednesday and grower representatives on the island report output should be similar to last season with some 470 hectares under production.
