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Vegetable section in an Asda store in Leeds
Photo: Molly Darlington/Reuters
With reference to "procurement problems" with products from southern Spain and North Africa, the British supermarket chain Asda has announced purchase restrictions.
"We have introduced a temporary limit of three items per product in a very small number of fruit and vegetable varieties," said an Asda spokesman.
The restrictions apply to tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, lettuce bags, broccoli, cauliflower and raspberries.
Asda has the third largest market share in the UK, after Tesco and Sainsbury's.
These chains are also affected by the lack of tomatoes as a result of crop failures in Southern Europe and North Africa.
Grocers explained that the situation has been exacerbated by lower winter production in greenhouses in the UK and the Netherlands due to high energy costs.
According to Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium (BRC), which represents large supermarkets, difficult weather in southern Europe and North Africa has resulted in crop failures for produce such as tomatoes and peppers.
"The disruption is expected to last a few weeks, but supermarkets are adept at dealing with supply chain issues," Opie said.
Although the UK is largely self-sufficient in the summer, it typically imports 95 per cent of its tomatoes and 90 per cent of its lettuces from December to March, according to the BRC.
Images of empty fruit and vegetable shelves are piling up on social media.
Tomatoes in particular are in short supply.
"The situation is becoming worrying"
Spanish growers also expressed concern.
"The situation is becoming worrying as some companies are struggling to meet their customers' schedules," says the Confederation of Fruit and Vegetable Producers' Organizations of Almeria, Coexphal.
James Bailey, chief executive of upscale supermarket chain Waitrose, said deliveries had been impacted by extreme weather in Spain and North Africa.
"It snowed and hailed in Spain, last week it hailed in North Africa - it killed a lot of the crops," Bailey told LBC radio.
He added that availability should slowly improve.
"In about two weeks, the other growing seasons will have caught up in other parts of the world."
A spokesman for the Marks & Spencer chain said the group was not immune to the supply difficulties but had remedied it by sourcing from alternative grow markets.
Last year, British grocers suffered from supply disruptions due to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.
Before Christmas, however, the availability of most products improved.
Earlier this month, Morocco banned the export of tomatoes, onions and potatoes to West African countries in a bid to drive down domestic prices and protect exports to Europe.
Like other countries, Great Britain is suffering from significantly increasing food prices.
Discounters benefit from this development.
Aldi announced on Tuesday that it would almost double the number of its branches in Greater London.
dab/Reuters
