Out of stock and shortages, that’s currently the best description of the iceberg lettuce market. “The drought is being felt. Very little lettuce is sent from North Holland, but growers abroad are facing the same problems,” says Niek Haerkens from Marni Fruit. He even tried getting iceberg lettuce from Sweden, but the product isn’t readily available there either. “Poland is the only country with a good production, so they’ll be able to make a tidy profit now.”
The shortages are causing sky-high prices on the market. “All of Europe is screaming for iceberg lettuce. We now have sales prices of 6 euro, and that’s twice the normal price of this time of year. Weather expectations are such that I don’t predict anything changing soon.”