The shift from Spanish and French salad imports to home-grown and Dutch supplies has been characterised by peaks and troughs in availability over the last quarter but, according to the industry, there are signs that this summer is shaping up to become a rewarding season.
With new-season UK lettuce, tomato, pepper and cucumber crops coming on the scene in the last three months, English supply has dominated the market, with only a few glitches along the way. “We have been very pleased quality-wise,” says one supplier. “But there have been periods where we have not been able to source any UK or Dutch product at all. We have had to bring salad products in from south Germany, and sometimes Poland, and then all of a sudden there are lots of English salad products available. But it is levelling out now.
“It has certainly been better than last year, when the weather was awful and we were in a real mess. We were importing lettuce from the Netherlands, and cucumbers from Belgium. The seasons are like chalk and cheese.”
Although there has been a shortage of UK tomato supplies over the last week, reports coming in indicate that UK growers have been producing very good-quality tomatoes since production peaked in June, and demand for home-grown product has increased by as much as 15 per cent in some businesses.
However, demand coupled with changeable weather has meant that tomatoes have jumped up in price. High winds in certain parts of the UK have brought low light levels, and tomato production has slowed down. “We have paid £6 for 6kg of English tomatoes this week, when last week it stood at £3.40,” says one insider. “It will break even again soon though, and there will be a sudden surge of growth as the weather gets warmer.”
Some suppliers have been struggling to bring in the kind of tomatoes that suit UK consumers. “European consumers tend to want ripe tomatoes, with a colouration of either eight or nine, whereas UK buyers look for a more orange tomato with a colouration of around six,” says one supplier. “As a result, UK suppliers tend to buy tomatoes on appearance and shape, whereas European suppliers go for taste. At this time of year, there are a lot of Spanish tomatoes about, but they are not suitable for the UK market as they are too red, and we cannot bring them in.
“Supermarkets are the only ones that can change the opinion of UK consumers, and they like bringing in orange tomatoes because they keep in store for a week and then another week at home - but in my opinion, they never ripen properly. Marks & Spencer and Waitrose seem to be doing a good job with their ripened on-the-vine tomatoes, and Aldi has just got in some fantastic red plum tomatoes from southern Germany, so maybe these are signs of things to come.”
English cucumber production really came into its own in April, and most suppliers have been able to provide their customers with 100 per cent UK product this quarter. According to insiders, quality has been good and demand has been up.
Peppers have not been so successful this quarter. The UK pepper crop’s quality has been consistently fair but, as with peppers from most sources over the last quarter, the product has been discoloured and misshapen. Peppers need cooler nights than both the UK and the Netherlands have been experiencing, and there has been a problem with pale green peppers on the market that are not conducive with retailer specifications.
But the real success story this quarter is the lettuce sector. English lettuce production came onto the market in substantial amounts in May, and up to 90 per cent of some suppliers’ stock has been made up of UK product.
Despite a much colder spring than the previous four to five years, nowhere near as much damage was caused to the crops as was anticipated, and harvest only started a day or two later than normal.
“It has been a slower growing season up until now,” says one lettuce grower. “We have had cold nights of 9-10°C but, although crops have been slow, the quality has been worth waiting for.”
Core lettuce lines iceberg, romaine and endives are all performing well, and recent warm nights have brought the crops on.
The salad industry does have one problem rearing its head, and that is a slight lack in demand, which some insiders fear is a signal of the credit crunch. “Demand is eight per cent down on this time last year,” shares one insider. “I think people are being cautious about what they are buying. You can see it in the retailers; buy-one-get-one-free offers are being replaced by 50-per-cent-off deals, and big retailers, such as Tesco, are making sure they bring the price down on selected vegetable items. We have to compete with this.
“It is difficult for caterers too, as people are cutting down on the amount of times they eat out a week and, even when they do eat out, people are spending less than they used to.”
Lack of demand has been felt particularly by lettuce growers and suppliers, with one grower saying that the sector is “a little disappointed with demand so far”.
“There is pressure on people’s pockets,” says one insider. “And current demand is lower than expected when you consider how much better the weather is this summer compared to last. I think it is too early to know the reasons why there is a lull in demand. There is enough supply, and quality is good.
“It is the worst time for a lull, as prices have dramatically increased from this time last year. We have seen a 40 per cent increase in diesel, and an 80 per cent increase in tractor fuel.
“It has had a major impact on our costs and the growers have to absorb that. The industry is going to be looking for the price of salads to increase.”
GREENHILL ENJOYS RISE IN DEMAND
Pea shoots are really up and coming, and demand has shot up over the last couple of years, writes Simon Greenhill, director of Greenhill Salads Ltd, which supplies salad products to wholesalers, retailers and caterers from New Covent Garden Market (NCGM) in London. When we started to stock the shoots just over two years ago we used to supply maybe 40 to 80 boxes a month, but now it has gone up to more like 200 a week. It is a new product, and although not a lot of people know about it, it is becoming more popular, and you can now buy it in supermarkets in mixed leaf bags. We do not supply it in mixed bags yet, but that is something we may well move on to, as the product becomes more popular.
Greenhill Salads supplies a mixed leaf bag that contains red cabbage, radicchio, endive and escarole from grower Dawndew Salads, in Blackpool. As the weather has perked up over the last quarter, so have lettuce sales, and we have been shifting up to 100 boxes a day. The lettuce offer has been particularly popular with our caterer customers.
Our line of micro cress is also selling well, and is another product that we have only come to stock in the last year or so. We currently offer 10-15 different types of micro cress, so there is a good range available, but not all of them sell well because customers and chefs are only aware of one or two. There is a long way to go with them, and there is a lot of exploring to be done. We get micro cress from Watts Farm in Kent, which supplies us year round. We sell 20 to 150 packets a day, mostly to foodservice customers. It is a good crop, and quality has been very good this season. Any new product we take on has to be of a high quality. If it is inferior, we do not stock it and return it to the grower.
I believe demand for micro cress will increase as people become more aware, and chefs have started to really incorporate it into their menus.
We have also experienced steady sales of mustard cress, and sell 100-150 boxes a day. Even though we have seen a lot of interest in more exciting types of cress, our traditional line has not seen a dip in demand, as it is less expensive.
Salad sales really started to pick up at the end of May, and compared to last year sales are well and truly up - so far, so good.
We source most of our product from within the UK, but we do bring in French watercress, so we can offer a year-round supply.
The quality of the watercress we get in is pretty much constant, but at the moment the hot weather is not making it easy for watercress producers to deliver the right kind of product. People generally look for big leaves when they buy watercress, with no sign of flowering, but when the weather gets hot the plant flowers, so it is a troubling time for watercress.
The weather dictates this business in so many ways, but we also supply mushrooms, so when there is a dip in sales with mushrooms in the summer, our salad products make up for it. Greenhill Salads started life more than 40 years ago, with two outlets in NCGM, and later another unit opened in Western International Market. One company was a wholesale business and handled the full range of fruit and vegetables, the other sold mushrooms and the other dealt with salads. Now, Greenhill Salads specialises in mushrooms and salads. The mix really works for us.
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