Spanish lettuce producers from the regions of Murcia and Almería are warning they may face “serious difficulties” supplying European markets over the coming weeks, after heavy rains and low temperatures caused a 27 per cent drop in available volumes.
Product shortages are expected to be especially acute during weeks 12, 13 and 14, meaning producers in the regions could lack sufficient volumes to supply the important Easter market, Murcian producer-exporter association Proexport said in a statement.
Proexport, whose associated members represent 50 per cent of the lettuce exported from Spain, said that the volume of available products between the affected weeks is likely to be 27 per cent lower than during the same stage of previous campaigns.
The association said that the principal reason behind the expected shortage was the heavy, prolonged rains that affected southern areas of Spain during February and March this year.
“The incessant rainfall that we have seen since the start of the year has led to significant setbacks and losses to production – the damp, cold weather led to difficulties with crop development and caused damage with resulting production losses and reduced lettuce sizes,” said Iñaki Soriano from Proexport member company Teresa Hermanos.
Germany and the UK are the main markets for Spanish iceberg lettuce, with the two countries importing 236,686 tonnes and 172,414 tonnes respectively in 2008.
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