Demand for sweetcorn in the UK is bearing up, despite one of the dampest summers on record, as suppliers work inventively to keep costs down and product coming into store.
“Remarkably for us, demand has stayed pretty good and is similar to last year,” said John Smith of Greyfriars. “But our packouts have not been up to what we had hoped for because of the weather factor. There is an increased incidence of mould and foreign bodies and unfertilised tips as well, which have to be chucked out. What it means is that we have to put more down the line to get the packout, so labour costs are higher than we would have liked, as shift patterns are longer.”
At Barfoots of Botley, the Bob Cob promotional wagon has helped boost demand at county shows and supermarkets, but unfertilised tips have also caused a problem. “The rainfall led to poor fertilisation and we have had to cut off a lot of tips,” said Stephanie Cooper of Barfoots.
Therefore, suppliers have been working with supermarkets to supply more mini-cobs, or cobettes, to get around the problem of the tips and try to add value. “Growers are having to walk their fields up to seven times, rather than just once or twice, as product is just not ripening,” said one supplier. “This time last year, it was very dry and we did about 35 pallets a week. This year, that volume is not there.”
Yorkshire is coming on stream to supply the UK market this week and supplement availability of volumes from further south, in Suffolk, Essex, Sussex and Hampshire.
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