Spanish Weather Causes UK Vegetable Shortage

An unusually rainy season in Spain has damaged vegetable crops so badly that last week several UK supermarkets had to limit the number of certain vegetables that customers were allowed to buy at once.

Spain is the largest fruit and vegetable exporter in Europe, and the UK and France are its biggest markets. However, some unfortunate weather has plagued the region recently. Spain was hit with heavy rain in December and a particularly cold January, which damaged the fruit and vegetable production. Zucchini, broccoli, eggplants, and iceberg lettuce are among the vegetables that have been affected by the bad weather, according to The Local.

In an attempt to distribute the available produce somewhat fairly, the Tesco and Morrisons supermarket chain capped the number of certain vegetables people could buy. Morrisons reportedly told customers to only buy three heads of broccoli, and Tesco put a three-head limit on iceberg lettuce.

The supermarkets are working with suppliers and considering other avenues to bring in more vegetables to solve the availability problem.