As British and Dutch salad products disappear from the UK market, Spanish salad producers and those in the Canary Islands are usually in their element, with lettuce, peppers, cucumbers, aubergines and tomatoes sent to the UK in abundance.
However, due to increasingly cold weather in the main producing areas in both Spain and the Canary Islands and heavy rainfall throughout Spain, the salad bowl’s main fixtures have been in short supply.
And with cooler temperatures predicted to remain, production has slowed down, signalling that there may be problems with volume until Dutch and British fare comes on stream come February.
Lack of availability has put further price pressure on an already expensive import for UK suppliers, as the weakening of the sterling against the euro takes its toll on the industry.
“It has not stopped raining in Spain and there have been some really cold nights,” explains Peter Davis of importer Davis (Louth) Ltd, which brings in lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, aubergines and cucumbers from Spain, France and Morocco during the winter months. “Some growers in Spain have had whole tomato crops ruined and will have to replant. It does not help that the pound is the lowest it has ever been against the euro, at £1.14. Compare this to where it stood last year, at £1.45, and you can see how much extra we have to pay for the product. Prices have been very disappointing, but we are all in the same situation. Last week, Spanish iceberg lettuce went up from 850p to 1050p for 12s.”
According to Davis, all salad products are short on the market, but tomatoes and peppers are particularly thin on the ground. The tomato production area in Murcia usually sends 130,000 trays of the product to the UK a day. This week, production levels fell to just 48,000 trays a day.
“Tomatoes need sunlight to ripen properly and it has been hitting 1°C to 2°C in Spain, which has really stunted growth,” says Davis. “We have had some good-quality tomatoes in, but they are not ripe enough and high in price. Caterers need them no matter what price they are, but wholesalers and packers, which serve the supermarkets, are ordering less.”
Some alternative sources for winter salads have been called in to alleviate the situation. “We have started to import red and green peppers, which are especially short, from Israel and Morocco because of the situation with Spain,” says Davis. “The peppers are just not growing and I have heard that some suppliers are getting some from Egypt this week.”
Spania Fresh Produce imports a range of speciality tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers from Spain and the Canary Islands from October, and is also feeling the pressure.
“So far, it has been a very difficult start to the winter season, but quality in the main has been good,” says the company’s managing director Morna Blair-Cornwell.
“The fall in sterling against the euro has been difficult for us and has certainly not helped us at all. In terms of our own production, in the Canaries, it has meant we have less money to cover our growing costs. We also have to pay more sterling than this time a year ago.
“In terms of the rest of the winter, I think supply will not be plentiful at all. This will be true particularly where tomatoes are concerned because, as a result of not being able to cover costs, producers have grown less. Tomatoes will be short in supply throughout, thus keeping prices high,” she adds.
The whole of Europe has been affected by bad weather and French stock has also taken a hit. Wholehead lollo rosso, lollo bionda, red oakleaf, cos and spinach from the country has seen problems with cold temperatures and winds, while lettuce has been breaking up quickly if grown outside. Product under glass has also presented issues and leaves have become very delicate. In general, the weight of wholehead lettuce is dropping. Spanish iceberg and cos are also short and, similar to tomato crops in the country, have stopped growing.
Spanish aubergines have leapt up in price and shrunk in size and, as a result, their popularity with UK consumers has decreased. Cucumbers from the country are also smaller than usual, but are still making good money, although quality is low.
“This situation is not going to change for a while and it is going to be really tough,” admits Davis. “Plants are damaged and it is going to take a while to get back on track.”
The Watercress Company grows a range of baby leaves on farms in Jerez, Spain, and on the west coast of Florida to ensure it does not suffer in a situation like this. The farms produce mainly watercress, but daily shipments bring the opportunity to import other products such as red chard and Tatsoi.
“Our overseas season starts just before the UK ends so there is a changeover period,” says Tom Amery, supply and technical director at The Watercress Company. “We stage the changeover to suit our needs and as we are the grower in all three countries, we have the ability to manage it well.
“Spain is, and will continue to be, a primary source but we recognised we needed more cover 14 years ago, as you cannot solely rely on the European continent throughout the winter. Also, the ability to harvest and have the product in the UK factory within 24 hours is a huge advantage, when standard shipments from Spain take 43 hours.
“But the obvious benefit is quality; we source all our products on quality grounds first and having choice is a huge benefit when achieving this,” he adds.
Amery says that the industry sometimes forgets that growing in the winter season is like trying to grow in a UK autumn, and for this reason product should be sourced from further afield. “Day length is short so the crop has fewer daylight hours and obviously you have less time to get jobs done,” he says. “We are, as ever, at the mercy of the weather, but what is encouraging is we are not in the same locations as our competitors. We are the only UK producer to own farms supplying the UK from two continents during the winter. One other increasingly restrictive factor is the UK’s maximum residue limits (MRLs). We will need to work with growers to produce their own data to enable imports.”
But, while the mainland Europe’s winter season seems full of pitfalls, demand is high and it bodes well for next year’s UK salad season. “Our sales are holding up with last year at the moment and the last two weeks have been very encouraging,” says Amery. “The end of the UK season was very disappointing. We expect November to be slow, but this year the drop-off came earlier and affected October.
“The supermarkets’ shelf space has been reviewed and the rationalisation is starting to show the benefit.”
And as winter salad production in the UK continues to decline and demand for British and local produce accelerates, it looks like mainland Europe will have to continue to fill the gap come spring.
“There has been a small but steady decline in UK production over the years, but it remains to be seen how things will continue,” says Amery. “If energy costs come down, this will help many growers to continue to maintain their investment in the future.”
The Watercress Company sells a small quantity of UK watercress through the winter months but, according to Amery, consistency is a challenge. “January is a difficult month, but the crop can recover by the end of February,” he says. “This year, we have focused on supplying to a few local businesses - one of which does supply a supermarket - but on the whole UK winter watercress will go to box schemes, local restaurants and markets, as the volume is small and intermittent.”
There is a limited amount of tomato production in the south of the UK, but this could decline this winter. Gerry Hayman, chief executive of the British Tomato Growers’ Association (TGA), says that a lot of tomato producers are bowing out of the industry in general. “It is the energy situation that is affecting them all,” he explains. “There will be a decline in home-grown produce and next year prices will be high. Plantings in the UK have been delayed, so we could see a shortage at the start of the season in February.”
Blair-Cornwell believes that pushing forward home-grown salad products could be problematic. “I think in general, UK-grown produce is always sought-after,” she says. “However, how much more of a premium the customer in the UK is prepared to pay for it is uncertain.
“As a result of high energy costs in the past year, producers in the UK are not as keen on continuing production or investing under the current difficult economic climate, unless this is going to benefit them.”
With temperatures forecast to hit 1°C this week, it does not look as though the situation will change for Spanish production, leaving UK salad suppliers paying over the odds for produce from sources further afield. But there may be some good news on the horizon, according to Amery. “Inevitably there will be some issues, but who can tell,” he says. “Most growers have cut back their ‘surplus’ production, so if anything it will be more of a growers’ market as demand will be high.”
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