Limited availability in Britain due to exteme heat and high Dutch prices, but yields starting to recover
Recent extreme heat across Europe and North Africa has caused a shortage of cucumbers in the UK, according to the Lea Valley Growers Association.
The association’s secretary Lee Stiles wrote on LinkedIn that reports of early aborted flowers in Spain and Morocco due to high temperatures have meant the Netherlands is “the main cucumber market at the moment”.
The LVGA represents 75 per cent of the UK cucumber crop but Britain is only around 20 per cent self-sufficient in cucumbers.
Stiles added on LinkedIn: “The Dutch are charging over £1 per cucumber at present and therefore the [UK] supermarkets can either pay the price or choose to have a lack of supply and empty shelves.
“We have been here before many times due to climate change and global conflict and it once again highlights the importance of British food security.”
Shedding more light on the situation, Thanet Earth MD Chris Butler told FPJ: “During the crop changeover period in both the UK and the Netherlands, cucumber supplies were naturally lower than usual.
“The prolonged extreme weather conditions have certainly reduced yields, making the seasonal dip in availability more pronounced.”
However, Butler expects the shortage to end soon. “Encouragingly, yields have begun to recover, and supply is now largely returning to normal,” he said.
A recent crop report from wholesale supplier Fresh Direct, described the situation as currently “challenging”, but with Spanish volumes anticipated to recover next week and new Dutch plantings expected, better availability is forecast in the coming days.
