Fluctuating temperatures, increased production costs and the knock-on effects of Brexit are all contributing to the vegetable shortages that have led some UK supermarkets to introduce rationing, according to Spanish growers.
While some large producer and export associations have put the shortages down to the cold weather in southern Spain, others have pointed the finger at the post-Brexit red tape and logistics problems that have helped to make the UK a less desirable market.
Coexphal, an association of more than 101 fruit and vegetable companies in Spain’s vast and productive Almería province, said the shortages had been caused by mild autumn and winter temperatures giving way to a cold snap over recent weeks.
In a statement, the association – whose members account for 70% of Almería’s fruit and vegetable exports – said tomato production was down 22% on the same period last year, cucumber production had fallen by 21%, pepper and aubergine production by 25% and courgette production by 15%.
It also said the “worrying” situation meant that its members were starting to have problems fulfilling client orders.
“We weren’t expecting this because the high temperatures lasted pretty much until December, which meant production picked up speed during the first part of the season,” said Coexphal’s manager, Luis Miguel Fernández.
He said the problems of falling yields were being compounded by higher production costs as well as blights and viruses.
“Our businesses are doing everything they can to deliver on their commitments, but it’s practically impossible under the circumstances.”
Although Coexphal said a rise in temperatures over the coming weeks could improve the situation, it added that it was unclear how the plants would respond to the stresses of “such a changeable climatology”.
A Coexphal spokesperson declined to comment on the role that the UK’s post-Brexit import protocols could be playing in the shortages.
But Alfonso Gálvez, who serves as general secretary of the Murcia branch of Asaja, Spain’s biggest farming association, said he was puzzled by the media talk of weather-induced shortages.
“I’ve seen these articles but I don’t understand why they’re talking about shortages here,” he said. “Things are normal so far this season so I don’t know if it’s more a problem of UK logistics since the Brexit regulations came into effect. There’s enough produce to supply the market and the vegetable season is happening pretty normally.”
While he acknowledged that rising costs had seen a drop in production for some growers, and that frosts had affected some artichoke and lettuce crops, Gálvez said those issues were not serious or widespread enough to have significantly reduced market supplies.
The current UK shortages, he suggested, may have more to do with bureaucracy and logistics than the weather.
“The sector adapted to the new [post-Brexit] export protocols set by the UK in coordination with the different ministries that are responsible,” he said. “But there have been logistics and transport problems when it comes to export, such as a shortage of lorry drivers to service the UK market, and the problems we’ve seen with the queues to get into the country through Eurotunnel.”
That, Gálvez added, may have led some export companies or co-operatives to focus more on the continental market than the UK market.
“On top of that, you’ve got the costs of all this bureaucracy and all these waits, which mean that perhaps the UK market isn’t so attractive,” he said. “But in any case, there are enough raw materials and produce to keep supplying the market.”
A spokesperson for the Spanish Federation of Exporting Fruit, Vegetable and Live Plant Producers (Fepex), said that while production had dropped over recent weeks because of the weather, the situation had improved in recent days and vegetable production was “back to its normal rhythm”. She added: “The effect of that supply normalisation will be seen over the coming weeks.”
The latest fruit and veg shortages come six years after crops in southern Spain were hit by flooding, frosts and snow, leading to a prolonged scarcity of courgettes, aubergines, lettuce and celery.
