In Murcia, temperatures fell from January 11-14 to around 12°C in the daytime and in some areas to below zero at night. 'The effect has been to slow lettuce and broccoli and development,' explained Andres Lopez of Fecoam, Murcia growers' federation. 'A lot fewer heads have therefore been sent to market and some lettuce has even been frost damaged.' Lopez reports that temperatures are getting back to more normal levels for the time of year: 14-18 °C. But the problem of supply is a complicated one.

'In November and December last year we had unseasonably warm temperatures and so product came on stream much more quickly with production cycles overlapping and prices falling below the cost of production,' said Lopez. 'This caused a gap later in the season which has been compounded by the cool temperatures.' However, although vital supermarket programmes are still being met and prices have improved for those with product since the cold snap struck, the season is unlikely to recover fully.

The situation further west in Andalusia is similar. Berry specialist AFI Direct Sales reports a slowdown in strawberry and raspberry production with less fruit than expected. 'The one heartening aspect is that growers are not reporting damage as yet,' said a spokesman.

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