UK heatwave drives surge in Spanish vegetable imports
A severe drought in the UK is forcing wholesalers to source summer vegetables from Spain and Holland, highlighting the strain that extreme heat is placing on European food supply chains and prices.
British wholesalers are purchasing lettuce and broccoli from Spain at the peak of the domestic growing season after consecutive heatwaves devastated local harvests. “It is worse than the public realise. We are running out of water,” said Tim O’Malley, chair of Nationwide Produce.
“Last week we did something very unusual and went back to Spain,” O’Malley added. “They have got hot weather but they are more used to farming in these conditions.”
This sudden shift in trade flows is driving up wholesale prices across the board. Tomatoes have surged by more than 60%, iceberg lettuce by 90% and potatoes by over 40% as farmers report rapidly depleting irrigation reserves.
Spain’s ability to step in provides a temporary buffer for British retailers, but the broader European picture is deteriorating. Across the continent, extreme heat and wildfires are damaging crops ranging from wheat and olives to potatoes. Production in the Netherlands and Belgium, which typically supply the UK's summer tomatoes, is also suffering from smaller, damaged fruit.
Field crops in the UK have been particularly hard hit, with broccoli yields halving and forcing packers to combine two heads to meet standard weights. “The UK is very short [of broccoli] at the moment, so it’s being imported from Spain and Holland to try to cover the orders,” said David Simmons of Riviera Produce. He warned that cauliflowers could be the next commodity to face shortages.
Root vegetable growers predict severe disruptions later in the year unless weather patterns change. Carrot grower Rodger Hobson described the situation as the “worst we’ve ever known”, noting that Britain’s domestic supply could run out months early in the spring. “Any [temperature] over 25C and it goes into shutdown, anything over 30C and it pretty much starts to die. All we can do is keep pouring water on,” he said.
The English pea harvest is down by a third, and potato yields are expected to fall. Chief executive Scott Walker of GB Potatoes warned that consumers should expect “more variation in sizes of potatoes” later this year. Furthermore, a year of exceptionally hot and dry weather has triggered the earliest UK cereals harvest in at least two decades.
The supply chain stress has prompted an unusual coalition of retailers, including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Aldi, to demand government action on food security. Farmers are calling for state support to build costly reservoirs, as planning systems and tight profit margins prevent them from investing in water storage. Growers are also exploring southern European crop varieties better suited to higher temperatures.
