“There was a flush of fruit two weeks ago in the Canary Islands and also in mainland Spain when the weather was very warm,” said Tony Zerpa of importer Victoria Trading. “There is fruit still there on the vines, but the cold snap and rain that we have seen in the UK has moved southwards and there is now 30-40 per cent less production as the cold has really slowed things down.”
Zerpa is hopeful supplies will be back on track soon, but this is likely to take a little time. “Next week will definitely be short for the Easter market,” he said. “We hope that the week after supplies will improve and we will be back on terms with demand. The problem is that there is only really a little bit of English and Dutch fruit at this stage in the season and so prices have been rising.”
The shortage is affecting the full range of fruit from classic round to cherry and on-the-vine types. “Senders are still supplying multiples to programme and the shortage is not reflected in these prices, but in prices on the wholesale market,” said Zerpa. Canary Islands round tomatoes made 800p for 6kg and mainland Spanish supplies of the same weight made 900p on Liverpool market.
Meanwhile, loss adjusters in Murcia have assessed damage from high winds on March 7 and 8 at €4 million (£2.7m) with most losses sustained by the tomato crop. In the Aguilas area of the region, one 12ha plantation of tomatoes was completely destroyed.
And neighbouring Almería has recorded a strong first three months of the tomato season, with sales from September to December 2006 up by 26 per cent on the same period last season, according to producer-exporter association Coexphal.
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