The British have got rather used to the reminder that they’ve lost an empire but are yet to find a role. It was US president Harry Truman’s secretary of state who came out with that wisecrack more than 60 years ago, and it’s been something of a millstone around the neck of the British people ever since.
The fresh spring air in London has had something of that sense of lost empire these last few days. The first of many ceremonies to mark the diamond jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II is underway and the country is preparing to welcome thousands of athletes – and many millions of TV viewers – to the Olympic Games, which last took place here in the summer of 1948, barely three years after the end of World War Two.
From outside the UK the questions come thick and fast about the country’s current state. The economic slowdown and the government’s efforts to control a ballooning public debt have combined with last summer’s riots to paint a poor image.
It’s a bad impression that has been affecting the local fresh produce business. For many suppliers the UK was a haven of strong demand that resulted in high prices and solid returns for much of the last 20 years. Since the sterling dropped in value as the economy went pear-shaped, many major retailers have sought refuge in rock-bottom prices and turned the UK into a place that some suppliers now choose to avoid. 
Tesco’s well-publicised problems, which last month resulted in the resignation of their UK price-cutting architect-in-chief Richard Brasher, have done much to add to the mood of doom and gloom.
Having done so much to transform the fresh produce supply chain for the better in the last couple of decades, UK supermarkets have rather let their enthusiasm get out of control. Where once they were widely considered to be tough and fair, now they’re just thought to be tough.
There’s no denying the fact that the UK market is not what it used to be. Other markets in Europe, and indeed new and emerging markets in other parts of the world, are proving just as remunerative, and often more so. They have the advantage too that they are less demanding.
Of course, the UK only has itself to blame, but, as a recent leader column in the Fresh Produce Journal (FPJ) reminded us, it’s time to take a second look at the market there. Britain’s only fresh produce magazine, which has been produced every week since 1895, recently reminded its readers of the vital importance of the UK market in Europe as a whole. It still imports huge volumes of fresh fruit and vegetables. Not for nothing are more UK companies than ever now exhibiting at Fruit Logistica. They are exporting more produce to continental Europe too.
The FPJ, which is from the same stable of magazines as Eurofruit, is planning in upcoming issues to mark the summer of celebrations by focusing on the best that the UK has to offer. Suppliers around the world ought not to forget that the UK continues to offer an outlet for huge volumes of high-quality produce.
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