Lidl, Morrisons and Asda have started lifting sale restrictions on some fruit and vegetables as supply issues begin to ease.
In the last couple of weeks, most supermarkets introduced customer purchasing limits on items such as tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuces and peppers items, after bad weather in Europe and North Africa impacted harvests and led to shortages.
With supplies now improving, restrictions will be eased in the coming days on most items, with the situation expected to be back to normal within weeks.
The challenges of accessing sufficient supplies of fresh produce, the majority of which are imported to the UK during the winter, was also exacerbated by British growers cutting back on production as the cost of energy required to heat glasshouses soared.
Amid the shortages, British growers and the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) highlighted that they had been warning for some time that food producers were facing soaring costs of energy, fertiliser and other inputs, and were not being paid enough to cover production expenses.
NAM Implications:
- Understandable, given that restricted purchasing.
- Can lead to excessive demand…
