UK vegetable shortage panic as heavy rain destroys crucial crops across Europe | World | News
British households could be about to face a major shortage of fresh fruit and vegetables after heavy rains in Spain destroyed alarming numbers of crops. Spain and Morocco account for more than half (57%) of UK tomato imports, while the vast majority of cucumbers and sweet peppers consumed in Britain come from Spain.
According to Sky News, ECIU land, food and agriculture analyst Tom Lancaster said it was currently “too early to tell” whether the latest flooding in Spain – particularly in the wake of storms Marta, Kristin and Leonardo – would disrupt supplies to British consumers, but noted previous knock-on effects on supermarket offers. Extreme weather conditions in the Mediterranean region in early 2023 caused shelves to empty in the UK and led Tesco to limit sales of some fruit and vegetables.
Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at UK retail association the British Retail Consortium, also acknowledged that difficult conditions were “impacting the harvest of some crops”.
There are also fears about new potato exports from Sa Pobla in Majorca, one of the UK’s most important markets. Around 50,000 tonnes per year are exported from Majorca to the UK, mainly between March and June. Grown largely in the Sa Pobla region, these potatoes make up a significant proportion of early season imports, with 70% of Spain’s potato exports to the UK coming from this region.
Beyond Spain’s fruits and vegetables, the region has been hit by three deadly storms in just two weeks. Storm Marta is wreaking havoc on the Iberian Peninsula just days after Storms Kristin and Leonardo, causing deadly flooding and massive damage. One person was killed in Storm Leonardo, at least five people were killed after Storm Kristin made landfall on January 28, and two people were killed in the aftermath of Storm Marta.
Hundreds of thousands of people had to be evacuated due to extremely rainy weather in Portugal’s Algarve and Spain’s Andalusia regions. 3,500 people were evacuated as river levels reached record levels in this part of Spain. More than 100 roads were closed and some high-speed train services were suspended in affected areas due to floods, landslides or fallen trees.
In the interior of Andalusia, a dam that has stood for more than a century has sparked an emergency in the mountains above Ronda, forcing the evacuation of 11,000 people from their homes. The Montejaque Dam has survived for 102 years as an extraordinary engineering failure, so much so that it has come to be known as the “Ghost Dam” by locals.
However, last week the dam overflowed for the first time as the reservoir came within 30 centimeters of its absolute capacity. It was determined that the cause of the water flow, which reached 200 cubic meters per second, was strong winds and waves. English SUR.
