Vegetable supplies are under further threat this week with the UK experiencing more rain, a similar picture in France, and producers in southern Spain warning that their drought conditions will severely hinder autumn and winter supplies.
In the Spanish region of Murcia, growers have warned that brassica and salad crops are all likely to experience substantially reduced volumes. “We are greatly concerned that without water, production of winter vegetables in our region will fall by 60 per cent,” said Alfonso Gálvez of growers’ association Asaja-Murcia.
Peter Davis of UK importer Davis (Louth) Ltd said that his suppliers in the region are forecasting similar effects, and that production in central Europe is also affected. “The Czech Republic is trying to source cauliflower from the UK, as its production is all scorched,” he said.
Meanwhile, in the UK and other parts of northern Europe, such as Germany and France, the weather continues to be unseasonably cold and wet.
“There is a north-south split in Europe, drawing a line through Perpignan,” said Davis. “Anywhere north of that line it is cold and wet, and below it is extremely hot and dry.”
The result is that supplies that are disrupted now are likely to continue to be so through the autumn.
“Cauliflower from France and the UK will be tight until the end of September or early October,” Davis said. “Then, it will all come on stream at once, as product is just not growing at the moment.”
Meteorologists are also forecasting that knock-on effects from Hurricane Dean could be felt in the UK in about 10 days’ time.
Packers and importers in the UK are having to widen the net and look at sourcing from non-traditional regions in order to work around the weather in the future - for example, brassicas from northern Spain’s more temperate Navarre area, rather than Almería and Murcia.
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