Crop Report

British Strawberry season is moving into its next phase. We’ve just finished the first flush of fruit from June-bearing plants, which produce one big crop each season - typically in June. Now, we’re shifting to everbearing varieties, which fruit throughout the summer season right through to autumn.

Thanks to favourable weather, the early crop was excellent, but as we transition between plant types, we’re likely to see some size challenges over the next couple of weeks while we await the start of the main season crop. 

Blueberries are also challenging at the moment, with the British season in its infancy, while the Moroccan season has already finished. This is not unusual for the time of year, and we are bringing in additional fruit from Spain and Portugal to support supply, which will remain tight for the next few weeks.

The good news is that raspberries are now all British, and in good supply. We are monitoring the thermometers very closely as high temperatures above 30oC may cause fruit production to slow down as the plants react.

We are currently moving between old and new season British carrots. The new harvest is showing some excellent early season promise.

While we transition between the seasons, we are still advising customers to keep carrots stored at as low a temperature as possible, which will help to maintain shelf-life and minimise any end-of-season quality issues.

Chantenay carrots are currently being sourced from Spain, where the recent rains have affected the colour, making them appear a little dull. This is a short-term issue as we expect British supply to resume at the end of the week.

With the end of Portuguese supply, we are now receiving produce from Egypt and America. We are pleased to report that we have managed to avoid any major issues so far, despite it being a very difficult market.

However, conditions remain very challenging with limited supplies from the US and we are expecting market-wide issues during July. A concession is in place, which allows the use of smaller tubers to maximise availability.

The new Egyptian season starts at the end of July/beginning of August, after which we are expecting the situation to ease.

There are likely to be some significant availability challenges towards the end of June and into July, as the South African season is predicted to finish earlier than expected due to frosts.

With northern hemisphere planting taking place later than planned in Portugal and Spain, we will be monitoring the situation very closely over the coming weeks as the transition will be difficult.

We are transitioning to the Murcia region of Spain, where the crop has been slightly delayed by poor weather during planting.

This is putting pressure on availability for some varieties, particularly cantaloupe and Galia, as we try to extend the Almeria season for as long as we can. This requires some concessions for example using larger end-of-season fruit to maximise availability.

We hope to complete the transition to Murcia next week, which should minimise any further problems.

We are currently transitioning to Spanish produce, which will be used for around a month, until the start of the new British season in July.

We are monitoring the quality of the Spanish crop, which could have been affected by heavy rains during the growing period.

This week will see the end of the British asparagus season, so make the most of the last chance to enjoy this popular British classic for the year.

Normal supply has been restored from Colombia, following the storms which disrupted supply.

All passion fruit is now sea-freighted, and we do not expect any further problems.

The new season for CauliShoots ® will begin next week and will last until around the end of August.