British shoppers may face a shortage of strawberries after severe storms in Spain and Morocco destroyed large portions of crops. The two countries supply nearly all of the strawberries sold in the UK during the winter months, but flooding has disrupted production and transport.
Consumers in the UK consume approximately 1,200 tonnes of strawberries each week, according to British Berry Growers. With the domestic season still months away, the country relies heavily on imports to meet demand. Storm Leonardo, which hit Spain in early February, dumped a year's worth of rain in 48 hours, devastating strawberry fields.
Freshuelva, the organisation representing strawberry growers in south-west Spain, estimates that around half of the region's berry crops have been destroyed. Survivors face export challenges due to impassable roads and disrupted ferry services across the Gibraltar Strait. In Morocco, over 30 per cent of farms have been flooded after a series of storms, according to the Moroccan Association of Soft Fruit Producers.
In response, supermarkets such as Sainsbury's and Tesco have increased sourcing from Egypt, where land dedicated to strawberry farming has grown by 35 per cent to over 103,000 acres in the past year. Nick Marston, Chairman of British Berry Growers, warned that extreme weather highlights the vulnerability of the UK's berry supply chain and the need for greater domestic production resilience.
