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**Hugh** · 24-02-2023, 09:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

You haven't thought this through properly, have you? You go straight for Brexit with no proof whatsoever.

Spain/Morocco suffer a production shortage of, say, tomatoes. So, up goes the price and the highest bidder gets the goods.

The supermarkets then turn to UK sources of tomatoes; but their costs have risen and many will have stopped producing such products. The supermarkets then turn to Spain/Morocco, who have already sold their tomatoes to the higher bidders.

Hence shortage.

Because there has been no previous supply issue, Brexit cannot have any role in the shortage of tomatoes.

https://www.theguardian.com/business...t-import-rules

Quote:

But Alfonso Gálvez, who serves as general secretary of the Murcia branch of Asaja, Spain’s biggest farming association, said he was puzzled by the media talk of weather-induced shortages.

“I’ve seen these articles but I don’t understand why they’re talking about shortages here,” he said. “Things are normal so far this season so I don’t know if it’s more a problem of UK logistics since the Brexit regulations came into effect. There’s enough produce to supply the market and the vegetable season is happening pretty normally.”

While he acknowledged that rising costs had seen a drop in production for some growers, and that frosts had affected some artichoke and lettuce crops, Gálvez said those issues were not serious or widespread enough to have significantly reduced market supplies.

The current UK shortages, he suggested, may have more to do with bureaucracy and logistics than the weather.

“The sector adapted to the new [post-Brexit] export protocols set by the UK in coordination with the different ministries that are responsible,” he said. “But there have been logistics and transport problems when it comes to export, such as a shortage of lorry drivers to service the UK market, and the problems we’ve seen with the queues to get into the country through Eurotunnel.”

That, Gálvez added, may have led some export companies or co-operatives to focus more on the continental market than the UK market.

“On top of that, you’ve got the costs of all this bureaucracy and all these waits, which mean that perhaps the UK market isn’t so attractive,” he said.