Crop Report

We are now importing Savoy cabbage to maintain availability as the UK suffers from a shortened season due to the wet weather.

Kale and Cavolo Nero are also very challenging and we are working with our supply partners to try to mitigate availability issues, but these are likely to continue until the end of the current season.

We are continuing to review the quality of any remaining stored product, monitoring for any potential issues that the wet weather may have caused.

We are continuing to see some issues with the Spanish harvest, particularly Lollo Rosso and Batavia, which are both causing market-wide availability concerns. We are expecting further stocks this week that will help to address the short-term concerns, but this will remain an issue until the British season.

We are working with growers to try to identify additional supplies of these continental varieties and help mitigate the shortages.

In the UK, planting remains behind, but producers are taking steps to speed up growth and keep it on track. We will be moving to UK supply at various points during May, depending on the variety.

Potato supply continues to be challenging and there is a gradual decline in market availability. There is also an increasing level of quality issues and rejections as we get further into the stored crop.

We will continue to work with technical teams and growers to try to maximise availability and minimise quality issues, but with the market situation as it is, problems will persist for the remainder of this season and into next.

On prepped potatoes, we are working with processors to try to manage supply, as they face challenges with availability and quality, which is reducing yields. There is also an increase in the level of rejections as the season continues.

As a reminder, we are not expecting any major availability issues with red or bi-coloured apples from the Southern Hemisphere, but we could see some quality challenges on colour later in the season.

In order to colour up well, the fruit needs a distinct variation in day and night temperatures, but El Nino has meant that there has been little change as the day progresses. This is likely to lead to the apples not colouring up as they should and may require concessions on colour as the season progresses.

As arrivals of delayed lime shipments dock in the UK, we are seeing huge improvements in availability. 

We are working with suppliers to maintain a watching brief on quality, as there have been some significant delays to the product’s arrival.

There are still some delayed vessels on the water, but these should arrive shortly, and this will see availability return to normal.

We are still seeing some shipping delays on melons, but these are not currently affecting availability, although further delays could cause some issues.

There are some quality issues with Galia, but our grower is putting in additional checks to try to remove these at the packhouse stage.

We expect to transition to Spain in the next month or so, where the crop is looking better.

Although there is a much-improved supply position as we begin to receive fruit from new origins, there are still some lingering concerns over the delicate global shipping situation.

We are not expecting shortages, but we could see some further issues if there are additional delays with shipping.

Parsnips continue to be a major availability concern with the wet weather and the harvest conditions bringing an early close to the UK season.

We are working with our suppliers to try to mitigate the issues that we are facing, but with a significant gap in supply expected throughout April and early May. The shortages will remain a potential problem until the start of the Spanish season, which is expected to be mid-May. 

Availability of Spring Greens is challenging as we deal with the impact of the wet weather on the harvest.

It is likely to be a few more weeks until we see further fields ready for harvest and, in the meantime, we are working with our growers and contingency suppliers where possible, but these are market-wide shortages that are likely to continue.

There are some concerns that the UK season could be late with the wet weather having delayed the planting of the crop. This could put the harvest back by a few weeks, and may cause some issues as we transition to the UK from Spain.

There are no current issues with supply, but we are carefully monitoring the situation with Chilian grapes as delays to the start of the season are expected. We normally move to Chile in mid-April, but with the hold-up, there could be some issues as we transition between origins. However, we are not currently expecting shortages.

We are experiencing some periodic issues with the quality of peppers from Spain. We are working with suppliers to try to mitigate these issues, including concessions for backward colour to allow growers to pick produce at an earlier stage. 

The situation with berries is much better as the transition between regions is completed, coinciding with an improvement in the weather. As a result, availability and quality have both improved. 

We are currently maintaining British supply, despite the weather conditions.  

As the season draws to a close, there are some issues with shelf-life and firmness of various varieties of tomatoes, although this is not particularly unusual for the time of year.