Supermarkets are turning to deals and special offers on fresh produce after supplies have veered from famine to feast in recent weeks.
After major shortages at the turn of the year due to bad weather in Spain, warm weather during the spring has contributed to a glut of supply from UK growers.
Crops including leafy salads and peppers are expected to hit stores early and in abundance, while UK growers may even export salads to the USA, which is now suffering its own shortages, according to the British Leafy Salad Association (BLSA).
Morrisons reacted to the early British asparagus season, which started three weeks ahead of schedule at the end of March, by expanding its wonky fruit & veg range with a new asparagus variant this week.
It said it was hoping to capitalise on early yields of the crop, which grew unevenly because of the warm spring, by selling packs at £1 per 180g - making it cheaper than all of the mults bar Asda.
“The warm early spring has resulted in 10% to 15% of our asparagus crop growing wonky this spring,” said James Dale, general manager at Morrisons supplier Flamingo Produce. “Growing asparagus takes many years of hard work, so we’re grateful that this part of the crop is being sold on to customers and will not be wasted,” he added.
The UK leafy salad season would start at least two weeks earlier than normal this year, due to the warm spring, said the BLSA. Crops such as little gem lettuce, spinach and watercress would be in store from next week, and others were “off to a good start”, it added.
Leafy salads grown in the UK are ordinarily available from early May. Meanwhile, green peppers will be in stores a week early, with the first harvest due this week according to wholesaler Reynolds.
UK cauliflowers and carrots have also experienced bumper crops as a result of good growing conditions. Tesco bought an extra 220,000 cauliflowers in March, and an extra one million carrots in April in order to capitalise on the extra crop.
Aldi similarly hoped to sell an extra 500,000 cauliflowers at a discounted price to “relieve the pressure” on growers managing a bumper crop. “After the recent salad crises, it’s great to see the opening of the UK season almost two weeks earlier than last year,” said Anthony Gardiner, marketing director at supplier G’s Fresh. “With the wonderful weather the UK has seen in recent weeks, we’ll hopefully see stronger shopper demand and an abundance of British leaves in supermarkets as we start the summer.”
The high yields follow the so-called salad crisis of early 2017, after flooding in the Murcia region of Spain led to shortages of various fruit & veg including courgettes, lettuce and tomatoes. Some fields in the region, which provides about 80% of Europe’s fresh produce during the winter months, were reduced to just 30% capacity.
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