Customers see a growing number of empty shelves in the vegetable departments of shops in the UK, as importers find it difficult to source tomatoes due to bad weather in Morocco and Spain.

The UK may be facing a serious shortage of yet another everyday commodity, with tomatoes vanishing from the shelves of more and more supermarkets and stores. Particularly difficult weather conditions in southern Europe and northern Africa have disrupted the harvest for some fruits and vegetables, including tomatoes, said Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium. Britain imports tomatoes from Morocco, the Netherlands and Spain over the winter months. Since Brexit, however, importers have increasingly relied on Morocco for supplies, which has significantly slowed down fresh produce trade with the European Union.

However, the harvest in Morocco this year was poor due to floods and cold weather. In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, fertiliser prices increased, leading to reduced crop yields. Harvest in Spain was also badly affected by persistent cold weather. To make things worse, this month Moroccan authorities banned West African exports of tomatoes, onions and potatoes due to food safety concerns and rising prices.

Shoppers have circulated numerous pictures of empty vegetable shelves in supermarkets on social media in recent days.

We just need to wait for the tomatoes from Venezuela and all will be well pic.twitter.com/DAY7h2NsVS

— Poptunes (@Catofbengals) February 19, 2023

Some shops have informed customers that, with a little luck, tomatoes will be available again in a few weeks.

I work in retail. Tomatoes won’t be available til April apparently!? pic.twitter.com/oOka2NV42z

— Andy Roberts 💙 (@Robbo72uk) February 17, 2023

Others complained that they had to visit 4 or 5 shops before they could find a packet of fresh tomatoes.

Had to visit no less and five stores before I could find a packet of fresh tomatoes. I hear this is caused by crop failures, so assume it is the same all over Europe and not just a UK problem….. pic.twitter.com/Eo8iQyradj

— Trevor O’Jarvis 🌻 (@PatrickJervis) February 17, 2023

My local Tesco’s This afternoon. pic.twitter.com/dt4hNdfyWN

— Ms Robot (Governed by idiots) (@gard_trudi) February 18, 2023

Tomato is only one of the products affected by serious shortages in British supermarkets. Customers also have a hard time finding eggs. The worst ever bird flu outbreak and the rising costs have reduced laying flocks across the country. Politicians in charge of the sector are trying to reassure people, saying that order will be restored by the start of the tomato season, but farmers are not so optimistic.

The rise in energy and fertiliser prices is exerting an increasing pressure on the sector, the farmers have also warned on numerous occasions.

The UK is „sleepwalking” into a food supply crisis, the National Farmers Union (NFU) said. The organisation sounded the alarm back in December by saying that yields of tomatoes, cucumbers and other crops will likely slump to record lows in the coming months.

“We are repeatedly seeing a predictable combination of factors such as energy costs and weather leading to empty supermarket shelves. Our UK food resilience is currently gone. The government needs to take this seriously,”

NFU Vice President David Exwood told the press. Naturally, the pressure on supply has led to rising prices: the price of one kilogram of tomato rose from 2.09 pounds in January 2020 to 2.96 pounds by last month, according to data by the Office for National Statistics. Prices have gone through an especially steep rise since early last year. Quite a few European Union member states also purchase tomato from Morocco and Spain, so it cannot be ruled out that consumers will also have to face shortages in those countries in the next weeks.