Oh yes, we have no tomatoes !

In black and white days the answer would've been: because it's winter!!.
Same for soft fruit salad etc all of which tastes of........nothing!!
I'd rather wait and take advantage of the fab seasonal stuff in abundance on our market...

I get eggs.....from the butcher on the lane or the market...all local. How annoying?!

There were tomatoes in M&S this morning but no peppers (or tarragon!) and the selection of sandwiches was very poor compared to normal.

It's almost nationwide, most supermarkets.

BREXIT

There is plenty of salad stuff - tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers - in the rest of Europe.

Gabrielle56

In black and white days the answer would've been: because it's winter!!.
Same for soft fruit salad etc all of which tastes of........nothing!!
I'd rather wait and take advantage of the fab seasonal stuff in abundance on our market...

Most people wouldn’t now Gabrielle56. The UK has been importing spices, fruit and vegetables for hundreds of years, and we have never had as much choice as we do now. The public (me included) aren’t willing to go back to a winter diet of root vegetables, brassicas and bottled fruit - you have to be realistic.

We have satsumas, bananas, blueberries from overseas. Same price as usual.
UK carrots, parsnips, swede, sprouts, mushrooms, all available and delivered.

The public (me included) aren’t willing to go back to a winter diet of root vegetables, brassicas and bottled fruit - you have to be realistic

Oops, that's what we ordered 😀
No broccoli, though!
And the freezer is half full of fruit.

rowyn

Grandmabatty how on earth can you blame Brexit for a shortage of tomatoes which is due to bad weather in tomato growing countries? ???

Sorry, but that really irritates me - its almost as though you automatically blame anything for which you don't really know the reason, on Brexit!

Because the very fact there has been bad weather means there is a shortage- so EU is supplying EU... no shortages there. The more shortage, the more things like transport issues, red tape, cost of petrol and diesel- means that they will cut out those not in the Club and more difficult to reach, and with a low value currency. Simple.

Tomatoes have been a bit thin on shelves for a few weeks now. Energy , shipping and storage cost increases were touted as a reason for scarcity of some fruit and veg. Tomatoes of some sort are available but not always the ones I prefer. Peppers somehow seem to be in abundance.

If a producer has far too much, they will make a big effort to sell far and wide, even at lower costs. If there is a shortage, they will sell to the nearest, easiest, cheapest route, without currency issues, especially if they also belong to your 'club/union'.

As said, quite simple. So B is not the whole answer, but it combines with other factors to make selling to UK not worth while.

Morrisons have said that it is due to bad weather in Spain and Morocco where they get them from.

Plenty toms today in my local Sainsbury.

Kate1949

Morrisons have said that it is due to bad weather in Spain and Morocco where they get them from.

I’m not surprised. Not long ago a Swedish friend sent me a pic of snow on a beach in (IIRC) Ibiza. We stayed at her Majorcan house last April and it was frankly pretty bloody cold - nothing like the weather usually expected. Locals said said it was the coldest spring for decades, and it look as if this year maybe the same.
Climate change is hitting those areas, too.

Snap have just come back from Tesco and guess what! No toms

Plenty tomatoes in this clip!

twitter.com/buitengebieden/status/1627390345905315844?s=61&t=gejrJJNyVrdwvwMqdLczAw

Callistemon21

^The public (me included) aren’t willing to go back to a winter diet of root vegetables, brassicas and bottled fruit - you have to be realistic^

Oops, that's what we ordered 😀
No broccoli, though!
And the freezer is half full of fruit.

My freezer is full of fruit too, but I wouldn’t be happy living on it exclusively for 5 months of the year, I’d prefer to have fresh oranges, bananas, grapes etc. as well. - and peppers and tomatoes! I just don’t think it’s realistic to expect people to now completely change their cooking and eating habits back to what they were in 1950s. I’m sure it won’t come to that though, a solution will be found.

I buy cherry tomatoes every week and they are very tasty - it's a fallacy to say they taste of nothing.

Casdon

Callistemon21

The public (me included) aren’t willing to go back to a winter diet of root vegetables, brassicas and bottled fruit - you have to be realistic

Oops, that's what we ordered 😀
No broccoli, though!
And the freezer is half full of fruit.

My freezer is full of fruit too, but I wouldn’t be happy living on it exclusively for 5 months of the year, I’d prefer to have fresh oranges, bananas, grapes etc. as well. - and peppers and tomatoes! I just don’t think it’s realistic to expect people to now completely change their cooking and eating habits back to what they were in 1950s. I’m sure it won’t come to that though, a solution will be found.

No problem with citrus fruit in the last order.

This thread reminded me that I forgot to order tomatoes! 🍅
I rarely eat them but DH likes them.

The problem is Brexit.

my morrisons have none and a message up to say it was due to the weather, tesco had very little and i asked and they said it was due to weather problems. just found this ...
UK supermarkets are facing a shortage of tomatoes after bad weather in Europe and Africa disrupted supplies. Shoppers across the country have been sharing their frustration on social media after being unable to find tomatoes at their local stores

We came back from NZ a little over two weeks ago, and have had tomatoes whenever we’ve wished to buy them, which means we’ve had tomatoes in all the time. The latest batch came from Morocco and were bought in Morrisons. There is obviously a shortage, but not at this point in my area. Next week, who knows?

I’m just back from a quick shop and was surprised to see how well-stocked the shelves were, after reading this thread earlier. There didn’t seem to be a shortage of fresh anything. I even got some cherry tomatoes, from Spain.

Annie29

The problem is Brexit.

TBH , not 100% Brexit- but it is definitely a major factor, on top of bad weather and shortages in EU.

With my sainsburys and Tesco it’s been shortage of eggs for 3 weeks.

I went back to my local farm shop again today. They had 3 varieties of tomatoes, beef, vine and standard. Plenty of salads and peppers too.
The tomatoes came from Spain and Morocco.