After competing to sell the most during Christmas, supermarkets now pulling products from the shelves. This week, Tesco, Asda and Morrisons rationed a selection of salad products, such as peppers, cucumbers, lettuce and the fruit – not salad – the humble tomato. The shortage is expected to last for weeks. Environment secretary, Thérèse Coffey, was booed by farmers who blamed the shortages on poor weather conditions in southern Spain and North Africa.
UK farmers have campaigned for more support from government, with the rising costs of energy, feed and fertiliser impacting production. The good news is that energy prices have started to fall, and this should impact the cost of fertiliser. Ultimately this should filter through to inflation which has started a downward path. Central banks have considered the change and according to the US interest rate setting committee – the Federal Open Market Committee – it was central to the decision to slow down to a 0.25% rate increase in interest rates in February.
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