Spain’s floods force some UK sellers to buy oranges from southern hemisphere

UK providers have switched to buying fruit from the southern hemisphere weeks earlier than in a typical year. Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian

Some British retailers and wholesalers have been forced to switch to sourcing oranges from South Africa and South America early after last month’s catastrophic floods in eastern Spain left farmers struggling to harvest and ship their crops.

Companies in the UK have moved to buying fruit from the southern hemisphere several weeks earlier than in a typical year to prevent gaps emerging on supermarket shelves and amid fears over the quality of Spanish produce.