A vegetable supplier has revealed the real reason why supermarkets are facing food shortages at the moment, but independent sellers aren't facing the same problem. Simon Conley, who runs the Manchester arm of a Spanish import company, Fountain Fresh at New Smithfield Market, says that although the current tomato shortage is an issue, it's not solely down to "bad weather".
Instead, the problem began a while ago and has been brewing for some time. According to him, it's mostly down to the high prices that sometimes occur when harvests are bad, which supermarkets aren't always willing to pay.
The MEN reports that this is the reason why fruit and vegetable shelves are bare across a majority of supermarkets across the country. Simon said that supermarkets can get tomatoes, but how much they will to pay for them, and how much they think consumers will want to pay "is another matter".
He said: "The problem is that your supermarkets have contracts, so if you’re a supplier, and you’re going to get more money from somewhere else, where are you going to send them? “Tomatoes at the minute are making £15 for five kilos. There is a shortage, don’t get me wrong, and [exporters] are now just sending more into Europe since Brexit.
"But supermarkets just don’t want to pay [higher prices]. So the local shops, they’re loving it. They’re saying it’s like lockdown all over again.”
The current shortage of fruit and vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers is not "the worst" Simon has ever seen, saying that the "worst case of shortages" occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Simon thinks that supermarkets have been selling food "too cheaply for too long" in a battle to undercut each other and seize an increased market share. And right now, the UK is experiencing the "perfect storm" because of several different reasons.
These include bad harvests as a result of climate change, increased haulage costs caused by Brexit, inflated energy costs for growers caused by the war in Ukraine, and a lack of foreign workers to pick vegetables in the UK, again caused by Brexit visa issues.
And in the future, it is likely that these issues may not solve themselves, and shortages may become more common.
Although it does not help the situation, it does explain why your local greengrocer has crates of tomatoes while your major supermarket chain is struggling to fill its shelves and have introduced buying limits.
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