Crop Report

Global shipping continues to pose a high level of risk for fresh produce. Severe weather is causing significant delays and congestion at major ports, extending transit times across key international routes.

As delays accumulate, vessels are increasingly falling out of their scheduled rotations, creating knock on impacts for future arrivals. To recover lost time, several ships carrying UK-bound produce have bypassed British ports altogether, instead discharging cargo in mainland Europe.

This diversion often results in further delays as produce must then be transported back to the UK. Even after docking in Europe, customs checks, limited transport capacity, and ongoing port congestion can add at least an additional week to already delayed shipments.

In recent weeks, the number of late-running vessels has continued to rise—an especially challenging situation during winter, when severe weather can cause sudden and widespread disruption.

Our procurement team has been assessing the potential market implications following the outbreak of the conflict in the Middle East. At present, it is likely to have a minimal impact on availability. The greatest risk is with avocados, where market availability is likely to be affected. We will work with suppliers to try to minimise any impact on customers. We will continue to assess the longer-term impact on the market and provide updates as necessary.

We are continuing to experience market wide challenges with raspberry and strawberry availability. Severe weather across Spain and Morocco has significantly reduced yields, leading to widespread shortages.

There is, however, some positive news. Conditions are expected to improve from the end of this week as production transitions fully into the Spanish season, which should help stabilise supply.

Blueberry availability also remains under pressure. Ongoing delays to containers from South America are causing disruption across the market and limiting volumes. We expect this to continue to be an issue for at least the next week.

We will continue to monitor the situation closely and keep customers updated as supply improves.

Port and shipping delays continue to affect lime availability, as vessels are arriving late and in some cases being rerouted.

We are receiving intermittent deliveries while working with suppliers to tranship containers into the UK. Additional vessels are en-route, but many are still struggling to regain lost time. We remain focused on reducing transit times and moving product to our depots as quickly as possible.

As this is a global challenge with market wide shortages, options are limited beyond continuing to expedite transport wherever we can. We expect these issues to continue into next week, but once the delayed containers arrive, we do not anticipate further availability concerns.
We will, however, maintain close oversight of quality due to the extended time the fruit has spent in transit.

While our availability currently remains positive, market supply of avocados is currently under pressure, which may affect availability in the coming weeks.

Industrial action at Israeli ports is slowing outbound shipments, while adverse weather in Spain and Morocco is impacting both crop development and transport. Together, these factors are creating a particularly challenging period for the category, and we are monitoring the situation closely for any further issues.

At the start of the Spanish season, we had already anticipated tighter availability towards the end due to lower yields. Recent heavy rainfall has further reduced volumes of smaller lemons, and this pressure is expected to continue into March.

To protect supply, we will move to southern hemisphere lemons in the first week of April—around a month earlier than usual.

Challenges on smaller sizes will remain until the main southern hemisphere season is fully underway.

UK bound vessels carrying cantaloupe melons are facing delays, with ongoing port congestion pushing arrival dates back further than planned. Suppliers continue to report slippage in schedules, adding to the disruption.

As a result, cantaloupe availability is expected to tighten from the end of this week. Other melon varieties are not as affected and can be offered as suitable alternatives.

We are approaching the end of the British apple season. Remaining stock is expected to last until the end of this week, before the season concludes.

Supply has tightened, as cooler weather in Morocco is making growing conditions more challenging. Supply from mainland Spain and the Canary Islands is ongoing, though some quality issues have emerged, requiring concessions on certain Canary Islands tomato lines.

Peppers continue to face significant challenges. Low temperatures are limiting production, and yellow and orange peppers remain extremely restricted.