Consumers are warned to get used to cabbage in their burgers or to pay more than $ 10 for a lettuce, with no end in sight to the high prices of fruits and vegetables.
Key points:
- The cost of certain fresh produce, such as lettuce and tomatoes, has more than doubled in recent weeks.
- The industry warns that these prices will hold for months.
- Along with these price hikes, there are supply chain disruptions that are giving rise to empty supermarket shelves.
While the sudden rise in prices hit quickly, wholesalers say prices will take longer to come down as producers face a “perfect storm” of poor conditions.
Anthony Joseph, a wholesaler and exporter of fruits and vegetables, said the humid climate in southeast Queensland meant that growers lost one crop and struggled to plant the next as temperatures set. freezing.
“Things like baby leaf spinach and wombok cost three to four times the normal price,” he said.
Joseph, who is the CEO of Alfred E. Chave in the Brisbane Markets, said the February flood was detrimental to the preparation of the land for fall and winter crops, which, he said, caused the supply gap experienced during the month of February. the last four or six weeks.
Shannon Moss’s Locyrer Valley lettuce crop was destroyed by water and mud and had to be re-plowed. (ABC Rural: Alys Marshall)
The February flood was quickly followed by another catastrophic rainfall event that hit the Lockyer Valley just as lettuce had to be harvested, removing entire crops.
But now, Mr Joseph said moving the cold front would prevent farmers from growing more food quickly to alleviate the shortage.
Anthony Joseph says consumers should expect fresh produce price hikes to continue over the next few months. (ABC Rural: Alys Marshall)
“The most worrying thing about this is that we have these high pressure systems when we go into winter, and we will see very low temperatures,” he said.
“We have moist, cold soil. Crops will not grow in these conditions.”
When will prices go down again?
The combination of crops lost due to rain and hard-to-plant plantations due to the cold makes wholesalers like Joseph expect the shortage of fresh produce to last for at least the next two months.
Carlo Trimboli, president of the NSW Fresh produce Chamber and managing director of Samson’s Fruit and Vegetable Supply, said that as long as supply is low in the industry and demand continues, so will high prices.
He estimated that his wholesale supply was reduced by 80 percent.
“It’s really critical,” he said.
“Product prices are high, but the volume that normally passes through the central market system and for retailers is drastically reduced.”
Coles anticipates more supply chain disruptions in the coming weeks. (ABC Rural: Alys Marshall)
So while it may be tempting to think that farmers and suppliers are benefiting from high prices, the reality is that prices are high because many simply have no crops to sell.
“No one is really benefiting,” Trimboli said.
“That’s the honest truth.”
“Prices are strong, and some [farmers are getting] potentially high prices, but their volumes have dropped, and there are also many farms that have been lost [a crop] totally.”
No one is moving forward
Near Stanthorpe, South Queensland, the Gasparin brothers are three producers who have never seen their products sold so far.
Andrew Gasparin said vegetables like cauliflower and wombok lettuce cost $ 10 each, $ 80 a box.
And while for consumers it looks like a sudden rise, he said prices had risen for most of the season.
“We’ve probably made an average of $ 40 per box all season,” he said.
“I would say a normal season. We have an average of $ 20 [per box]. “
But the Gasparin brothers, like many other producers, have not had an easy season.
“We’ve had many days walking through paddocks cutting vegetables with rubber boots and walking through mud tractors and wrappers,” he said.
“We’re getting at least twice what we’d normally get, but we need our prices to go up now because all our commodities have gone up.”
“It simply came to our notice then [increases] in fertilizers, fuel and even just our packaging costs are rising 70 cents per unit. “
Andrew, Mark and David Gasparin grow vegetables near Stanthorpe, South Queensland. (ABC Rural: Alys Marshall)
So while prices are good, if you’re lucky enough to produce for sale, it’s harder to grow, pack and ship, which means farmers like Gasparin aren’t making more money than last year.
These costs are high due to global factors such as the Ukrainian war, which for Gasparin means that it was difficult to know when the costs could be reduced.
“We don’t know where things will go from here,” he said.
“It’s off-season now, and my family is still buying fruit and vegetables, and we’re also feeling the prices.”
“Even next season, our paddocks are very wet. I don’t know how we will prepare to grow if it stays wet. We can’t move forward to prepare our ground.”
“In the future, our prices could be much higher.”
Get the latest rural news
Posted 5 hours ago 5 hours agoWednesday, June 8, 2022 at 12:48 AM, last updated 4 hours agoTuesday, June 8, 2022 at 2:07 AM