Wm Morrison Supermarkets has begun limiting the number of red peppers that customers can buy as poor weather in Spain prompts renewed veg shortages for UK retailers.
Customers will be limited to two red peppers each owing to the shortages caused by unseasonably cooler temperatures in Spain which hit harvests early this year.
Waitrose also said it had been struck by shortages, though has not yet introduced a buying limit, with Morrison’s adding its cap could be lifted in the coming few weeks as supplies bounce back.
“Spain is key for supplying British retailers during winter, and almost every retailer in the UK will source peppers from here,” an industry member told the Times.
Despite Waitrose and Morrison’s both pointing to returning supplies, shortages of peppers mark the second hit for supermarkets from adverse weather in Europe in 2023.
Tesco PLC (LSE:TSCO), Aldi and Asda were also among supermarkets which imposed limits on cucumbers and tomatoes in February due to weather-hit supply, though post-Brexit trade blunders were also blamed.
UK farmers have been placed under “severe pressure” by higher costs and lack of access to subsidies means many chose to plant less last year, according to the National Farmers’ Union.
“This makes us all the more dependent on world markets for our food supplies,” said NFU former chief economist Sean Rickard.
“And you see what happens in the current situation when we become too dependent on imports.”
A spell of hotter-than-usual March weather in Spain also looks set to hit olive oil harvests for the second year running, with ongoing drought having caused a 1.5mln tonne slump in output to 0.68mln tonnes over the 2022-23 season.
Spain "is still very, very dry," Mintec commodities analyst Kyle Holland commented, predicting olive oil production from the world's largest exporter could be hit worse than last year.