Tomato shortage: We visited shops in Newport to see what was available

A shortage of tomatoes affecting UK supermarkets is widening to other fruit and vegetables including lettuces, peppers and strawberries, retailers have warned this is likely to last weeks.

We visited a number of grocery stores in Newport to see what the situation was like here.

Tesco Express, Cambrian Road:

Tesco Express on Cambrian Road fared the worst out of the supermarkets we visited.

The store was out of many items including raspberries, broccoli, cabbage, grapes, cucumbers, and little gem lettuce.

Friars Fruit, Commercial Street:

On the other side of the coin, independent fruit and vegetable store Friars Fruit in Commercial Street was extremely well-stocked in fresh produce.

Owner Joe Romola put this down to independent businesses being more flexible with their prices than chains, which may have fixed prices they pay for produce.

A well stocked Friars Fruit (Image: Newsquest)

A well stocked Friars Fruit

Mr Romola said: “The availability is there but it is costing more money.

“Prices for produce like tomatoes has doubled and this has meant we have been for forced to up our prices.

“We source on a daily basis and can be flexible with how much we pay for items but chain supermarkets are contracted to a fixed price.”

Sainsburys Local, Sovereign Arcade:

Shoppers were faced with lots of empty fruit and vegetable boxes in Newport’s Sainsburys Local.

The store was out of a range of items, including peppers, leeks, salad potatoes, sweet gem lettuce and iceberg lettuce.

Sainsbury's however was fully stocked with fruit.

Marks & Spencer, John Frost Square

Out of the chain stores we visited, M&S in John Frost Square was the best stocked.

However, the store had no peppers, lettuce and strawberries, and stock of iceberg lettuce were very low.

Why is there a shortage of tomatoes and other produce?

A combination of bad weather and transport problems in Africa and Europe has seen fresh stock dwindle.

Restrictions have been placed on how much fruit and how many vegetables people can buy at certain supermarkets.

Asda has introduced a customer limit of three on tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, salad bags, broccoli, cauliflower and raspberries, and Morrisons said it would be introducing limits of two items per customer across tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, peppers from Wednesday.

Other supermarkets are understood to be considering similar temporary measures.

Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium, which represents UK supermarkets, said: “Difficult weather conditions in the south of Europe and northern Africa have disrupted harvest for some fruit and vegetables including tomatoes and peppers.

“While disruption is expected to last a few weeks, supermarkets are adept at managing supply chain issues and are working with farmers to ensure that customers are able to access a wide range of fresh produce.”