Asda limits sales of tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers

Asda has enactment limits connected purchases of effect and vegetables arsenic supermarkets look shortages of caller produce.

The supermarket has introduced a bounds of 3 connected tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, crockery bags, broccoli, cauliflower and raspberries.

Pictures of bare supermarket shelves person been circulating connected societal media successful caller days.

Extreme upwind successful Spain and northbound Africa, including floods, snowfall and hail person affected harvests.

An Asda spokesperson said: "Like different supermarkets, we are experiencing sourcing challenges connected immoderate products that are grown successful confederate Spain and northbound Africa."

High vigor prices person besides affected production.

Farmers successful the UK and Netherlands person chopped backmost connected their usage of greenhouses to turn wintertime crops, owed to higher energy prices.

Extreme upwind has been causing problems successful the proviso of immoderate crops for months.

The European heatwave past twelvemonth had a important interaction connected the proviso of onions, for example, which are usually grown successful summertime and enactment into storage. Prices person risen dramatically arsenic a result.

More recently, the proviso of crops specified arsenic tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers has been affected by unusually acold upwind successful confederate Spain.

At this clip of year, a important proportionality of what the UK consumes usually comes from that region.

The accustomed fallback would beryllium to bargain much nutrient from Morocco, but output determination has been affected by flooding, portion storms person led to ferries being delayed oregon cancelled.

Another cardinal root of caller nutrient is the Netherlands, wherever effect and vegetables are grown successful heated greenhouses. But the precocious outgo of vigor has led growers to hold planting crops, worsening the wide situation.

Farmers successful the UK are facing akin problems.

"There's been a myriad of idiosyncratic factors" explains Nigel Jenney, main enforcement of the Fresh Produce Consortium, which represents astir 700 businesses. "Weather, substance costs, packaging and organisation costs, vigor costs."

The utmost upwind patterns successful Spain and Morocco, helium says, person been highly disruptive. But helium says the manufacture is doing each it tin to supply the champion nutrient available.

Andrew Opie, manager of Food and Sustainability astatine the British Retail Consortium said the disruption was expected to past for "a fewer weeks".

Supermarkets are "adept astatine managing proviso concatenation issues and are moving with farmers to guarantee that customers are capable to entree a wide scope of caller produce," helium added.

However, different businesses person besides been affected.

The Heritage Fine Food Company successful Wiltshire, a wholesaler which supplies restaurants, cafes and schools successful the southbound westbound of England, said sourcing tomatoes had go "incredibly challenging".

Cucumbers are "incredibly constricted successful supply", portion peppers person been failing to ripen, the steadfast said.

According to managing manager Ken Mortimer, galore UK businesses person contracts to bargain fixed quantities of imported produce. But erstwhile they request more, they person to bargain it connected the unfastened marketplace and prices person been prohibitively high.

Anecdotal grounds suggests the UK has been bearing the brunt of the shortages, with small motion of bare shelves successful different European countries.

However, precise precocious prices look to beryllium a wide occupation crossed the continent.

Industry sources suggest the UK whitethorn beryllium suffering due to the fact that of little home accumulation and much analyzable proviso chains, arsenic good arsenic a price-sensitive market. But Brexit is improbable to beryllium a factor, they say.

The main interaction of caller borderline procedures for effect and rootlike imports volition not beryllium felt until January - portion imports from Morocco, which is extracurricular the EU, are already taxable to borderline checks.

"It's not Brexit", says Mr Mortimer "Or astatine least, I don't deliberation so".

The BBC has besides contacted concern body, the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (IBEC) for a response.