British supermarket chains including Tesco have imposed limits on customer purchases of tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers after supplies across the supermarket sector were hit by disrupted harvests in southern Europe and North Africa due to unseasonable weather.
"There is a problem of programming the purchases, which is quite important, and then there has been a lower production as a result of the low temperatures," Agriculture Minister Luis Planas said during an event.
Planas said that not only greenhouse crops but also open-air crops such as artichokes or broccoli were affected. Spain is one of Britain's leading suppliers of fruit and vegetables.
The crisis has been exacerbated by less winter production in greenhouses in Britain and the Netherlands because of high energy costs, with social media awash with pictures of empty fruit and vegetable shelves in supermarkets.
Planas said shortages showed the vulnerability of food supply in Britain and the labour problems in the private sector as a result of Brexit.
"Brexit was not a great deal, but that is for them to judge," he said. Spain's vegetable and fruit production is recovering after taking a hit from adverse weather conditions and supplies for export markets should improve soon, the FEPEX association of exporters of fresh products said last week.
Planas said that although markets such as France or Germany had probably been given priority, shortages in Britain were "an absolutely transitory situation".
"We want to keep our customers and they also want Spanish products that they know are of high quality," he said.
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Nigel MaudeHere at 55 plus north no shortages here either. Despite not the best place to grow peppers, grapes and cucumbers in the summertime let alone the winter. Loads of local seasonal vegetables. Tomato’s , soft fruit, strawberries, raspberries, green beans from , Kenya , South African, Peru , Chile , Morocco, Isreal , USA. New potatoes from India and Egypt. Same as every year. Produce from Spain has been reducing since 2020.
Media hype to cause panic. No problem in the Midlands.
Can't be anything to do with Brexit as johnson, farage rees mog etc promised everyone that they would be much better off after Brexit. Surely they weren't all lying and the people who voted for it taken for fools?