// Fresh produce sales slowed as supermarkets struggled to meet demand for certain products, such as tomatoes and peppers
// Farming minister Mark Spencer has summoned supermarket bosses in a desperate bid to solve the recent fruit and veg shortages
Fresh produce sales slowed across supermarkets in the four weeks to Feb. 25 due to a lack of availability, industry data has revealed.
Britons have been grappling with a shortage of key salad staples, particularly tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers as harvests in southern Europe and north Africa were hit by unseasonal weather.
This has then been exacerbated by British and Dutch farmers planting fewer crops in greenhouses because of high energy costs.
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Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Aldi and Lidl have all imposed limits on how many salad items shoppers can buy at one time and the government has warned that shortages could last until the end of March.
According to newly published data by NIQ (previously NielsenIQ), total value sales in the fresh produce category grew just 11.1% over the four weeks, with a unit or volume decline of 5.4%.
It said supermarkets struggled to meet the demand for tomatoes, where unit sales fell 17.6% and for peppers, with unit sales down 16.8%.
However, value sales for lettuce and cucumbers increased 13.7% and 31.8% respectively despite limited availability.
NIQ said overall grocery sales rose 11.1% over the four weeks, up from 7.6% recorded in January, masking a drop in volumes when accounting for inflation, which it put at 14.5%.
The consumer intelligence company states that although inflation is still rising, shoppers’ varying coping strategies and the additional private-label price cuts by retailers are helping to alleviate the impact of inflation on shopping baskets.
Valentine’s Day saw an 8.2% boost in spending in the UK despite the ongoing cost-of-living squeeze, as there was incremental spend for Valentine’s Day and over the February half-term which helped lift value growths to 8.2%.
NIQ’s UK head of retailer and business insight Mike Watkins said: “Discounters sales continue to accelerate and we currently have the fastest growth in this channel over the last decade.
“With food and drink inflation not expected to slow just yet and shoppers paying more for all essential items (including their energy bills) we can expect lower prices – in particular supermarkets’ own label ranges – to be the key messaging from all retailers over the next four to six months.”
It comes as grocery price inflation rose to 17.1% in the four weeks to 19 February, the highest level ever recorded by Kantar.
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