Fresh Produce Update – 9th Feb

Supply Issues – Brassicas (cauliflower & broccoli)

Our thoughts are with our local UK farmers suffering failed crops of cauliflower. This has lead to an impending supply challenge on brassicas (cauliflower, broccoli and potentially cabbage) between now and the summer harvests in late May – early June.

The snow and frosts experienced in the last 2 months have been felt not only in the UK but across France and Spain (our core suppliers for these products at this time of year). The frosts have exacerbated an already difficult crop yield due to the challenges in planting from last year’s drought which has led to less hardy plants unable to cope with severe frosts. We foresaw the UK cauliflower shortage due to poor UK planting conditions by contracting with France instead of the UK, however, it wasn’t expected that France would have the same challenge on frosts.

Cauliflower is the most severely impacted and will be in very short supply between now and late May – early June.

Current open market pricing is well over double the normal levels for this time of year. Shortages on cauliflower will impact similar products such as broccoli and cabbage as customers move to these as an alternative, and in turn availability will become tight.

As a seasonal alternative to cauliflower, UK white and red cabbage are currently good and available. Please contact our team or order online via the online ordering login on our website or our Oliver Kay app.

Find out more about issues affecting other fresh produce lines in our weekly quality alert below. (Click the image to view the PDF):