According to a report in the British newspaper The Telegraph, some UK supermarkets have introduced limits on customers’ purchases of some fruit and vegetables due to stock shortages.
According to Andrew Opie of the British Retail Consortium, “disruptions are expected to last for a few weeks” as “difficult weather conditions in southern Europe and North Africa have disrupted the harvest of some fruit and vegetables, such as tomatoes and peppers.”
A spokesman for one of the UK’s leading supermarkets, Asda, said that “like other supermarkets, we are experiencing supply problems on some products that are grown in southern Spain and North Africa. We have introduced a temporary limit of three units of each product in a very small number of fruit and vegetable lines.”
Among the products subject to the limit are tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, salad bags, broccoli, cauliflower and raspberries.
Meanwhile, another major British supermarket chain, Morrisons, announced that it will limit customers’ purchases to two units per person of tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce and peppers from Wednesday. According to The Telegraph report, Lidl, Tesco and Co-op and Sainsbury’s have not yet introduced limits on customer purchases.
The country has been suffering tomato shortages due to poor harvests in supplier countries Morocco, the Netherlands and Spain. Shortages have spread to other fruits and vegetables, while growers and suppliers report supply chain disruptions due to adverse weather conditions.
