The British were in short supply of tomatoes. So memes can’t last long on social media. For example, the video above shows a crowd of people fighting in front of the entrance of a shop with the text ‘Tomatoes for sale’. Or a video of a dozen goats eating an entire wheelbarrow full of tomatoes. And especially photos of supermarkets abroad – including Ukraine – where mountains of bright red tomatoes shine on the shelves. In stark contrast to the shortages affecting shelves in the UK.
The British naturally like to blow up relatively minor problems. So now there is a ‘tomato crisis’. Due to cold temperatures in Spain and Morocco, the harvest there has been a partial failure. British supermarkets think they import their fruit and vegetables from those countries.
There’s no shortage of tomatoes here – but I’m in the Ukrainian frontline city of Kherson, which is under daily shelling by the Russians, not a British supermarket. pic.twitter.com/FFbVAf1zHC
— Lindsey Hilsum (@lindseyhilsum) February 23, 2023
As a result of these supply chain issues, five supermarket chains in the United Kingdom have already announced that they will have to ration their customers. As of now, only three peppers, three tomatoes and three cucumbers are allowed in a shopper’s cart. Not that the shelves were immediately empty everywhere. But where there is scarcity, people hoard. That’s exactly what supermarkets are trying to prevent. Because once a few panic and start buying big, others will have little left over.
In some supermarkets the problem is even more urgent: vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower can no longer be bought in bulk. The shortage of tomatoes and chillies is huge, despite BBC insistence.
A less favorable negotiating position
In such a case, there are always those who will readily claim that the deficits are, of course, the result of Brexit. Because other countries don’t have a problem, right? But here we have to deceive the European Union’s adepts: Brexit is not the main issue in this case. As diet experts assure. For example, the Netherlands is also struggling with shortages of tomatoes and bell peppers. However, the shortages in our northern neighbors are somewhat smaller and therefore less visible.
So what is the real problem? A desire to cut costs. British supermarkets have invested very little in local fruit and vegetable production in recent years. According to the American newspaper, they wanted cheap imports The New York Times In a rigorous analysis. And British supermarkets paid rock-bottom prices for those imports when there were still fruit and vegetable surpluses.
Supermarkets in other European countries were willing to pay higher prices for their tomatoes and other vegetables. As a thank you, in times of scarcity, they now have priority over the British.
