Vegetable lovers across Europe have been making hard choices this winter after storms battered fields in southeast Spain, the continent's main fruit and vegetable patch. Courgette prices are soaring, but shoppers are also thinking twice before shelling out for pricier tomatoes, peppers and aubergines. Some British supermarkets have even resorted to rationing sales of broccoli and lettuce in light of plummeting harvests.
The vast fields along Spain's Mediterranean coast usually stay warm enough to produce year-round, even in winter. But torrential rains hit the region late December, followed by shock snowfalls in January - areas near Murcia, in the heart of the farming zones, had not seen a snowflake in 34 years.
For most of the year, Spain supplies around 30 percent of the main fresh fruits and vegetables on European shelves. In winter, this proportion rises to half - and to a whopping 80 percent when it comes to lettuce. After the bad weather hit, a Spanish federation of agricultural exporters reported a 30-percent drop in European shipments. The COAG farmers' union says output has halved in the worst-hit regions.
Some farmers "have lost their entire crop", said Andres Gongora, COAG'S Almeria director.The province of Murcia, which exports two-thirds of Spanish lettuce, a trade worth 423 million euros ($450 million), has been particularly hit.
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