LONDON, March 23 (Reuters) - British food retailers have
kept the prices of salad vegetables that have been in short
supply "comparatively low" versus their European peers, food and
farming minister Mark Spencer said on Thursday.
For a month or so Britons have grappled with a shortage of
key salad staples, particularly tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers,
while shelves in Europe have been piled high with the fresh
produce.
A hit to imports from disrupted harvests in north Africa due
to unseasonable weather has been exacerbated by British farmers
planting fewer crops under glass due to still high energy
prices.
"Whilst recent unseasonable weather in Morocco has also
created some temporary supply disruption to fruit and
vegetables, domestic retailers have held prices comparatively
low compared to the rest of Europe, where increased demand led
to some cases of 300% rises in the price of some vegetables,"
Spencer told parliament.
Despite the relatively low prices mentioned by Spencer,
official data published on Wednesday showed UK consumer price
inflation rose to 10.4% in February, higher than a Eurozone
average of 8.5%.
The Office for National Statistics said that an end to
January drinks promotions in pubs and restaurants was the
biggest factor behind the rise, but shortages of salad items
also played a role. It said overall inflation for food and
non-alcoholic drinks rose to 18.0%, the highest since 1977.
"A number of media outlets have reported that the recent
shortage of some salad and vegetables have been the driver for
the increase of food inflation in February, but this is not the
case," said Spencer.
He said the inflation rate has been driven by several
factors - higher utility prices and pressures on global supply
chains that are being felt across Europe and beyond.
Spencer noted other categories had seen price increases over
the past year greater than those seen in vegetables,
highlighting oils and fats up 32.1% since February 2022 and
milk, cheese and eggs up 30.8%.
"Commentators expect the rate of inflation, both across the
economy and for food and drink, to be near its peak," Spencer
added.
Market researcher Kantar will report UK grocery inflation
data for March on Tuesday.
(Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel)
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