"The situation in Spain is critical and the weather they are experiencing is extreme, even for this time of year. After the heavy rains which either washed away or severely damaged the plants, we now have very low temperatures and the remaining plants are not performing.
"For the past few weeks we have been keeping the pressure on our Spanish suppliers to fill our orders, which they have been doing. We have alerted you to certain lines already, but now it is all products. Our suppliers can only try to meet our orders by buying any produce available around them."
This was part of an email which Irish fresh produce trader, Justin Leonard, Managing Director of Jackie Leonard & Sons Limited, had to send out to his customers this morning.
"I got an email from my growers telling me about the extreme situation, this is practically unheard of. I felt I had to pass it on to to my customers so that they can understand the situation. The Spanish growers are talking about weeks, 6-7 weeks, before they will have produce again."
He said that he will be monitoring the situation from week to week. "This is not ideal and we don’t like to be in this position but we have exhausted all avenues of supply. At the moment I have a bit of stock but it is getting worse and I don't think we can replace it."
Spain is the supplier for vegetables at this time of the year and if that fails then you go to Italy, but they are also suffering from the snow and cold weather, even in the south.
In Ireland and the UK temperatures are actually warmer than Italy and Spain which is very unusual.
"Aubergine and courgette are very hard to find, practically non-existent from Spain, and the Italian tunnel production was hit by snow last week," explains Justin. "Morocco may have some production but they can't supply the whole of Europe. You can get these products, everything has its price, but at 20-30 Euro for a 5kg box it is just not feasible."
Tomato prices have also gone through the roof and salad does not seems too bad yet but the price is up a bit.
"Carrots, turnips and parsnips, which are grown in Ireland and the UK, are doing fine, but people want peppers, tomatoes, iceberg lettuce, cucumbers and broccoli - all these Spanish products are just non existent," said Justin.
