Spinach is like ‘gold dust’ in supermarkets after heavy rain in Spain damages crops

SPINACH is running low in supermarkets across the country thanks to damaged crops in Spain.

The shortages in the UK are so bad that leaves are like "gold dust" in stores, one industry expert said.

Waitrose, Tesco and Sainsbury's are among the retailers affected by the shortages, which are a result of the heaviest rainfall in Murcia, Spain, for 30 years, trade magazine said.

A quick look on Tesco's website highlights the scarcity of spinach at the moment.

Bags of Redmere Farms Spinach, own-brand baby spinach, own-brand organic spinach and Fresh and Naked Spinach are all currently unavailable on the site.

Only one supersize 900g bag of Tesco leaf spinach is available to buy.

Sainsbury's has 1kg bags of chopped spinach available, otherwise the only bags available are salad bags which also contain watercress and rocket.

Waitrose, too, is only selling fresh spinach in prepared salad bags that also contain rocket and watercress.

Otherwise the only other spinach on offer is frozen.

One Waitrose customer told that she had spotted a sign in her local store that read: "Apologies, for the next three weeks we will experience a shortage of spinach, due to torrential rain in Southern Spain.

"We are working closely with growers to maximise availability whilst ensuring that our quality standards are met."

A spokesperson for the supermarket told The Sun Online: "There is an industry-wide shortage of spinach due to torrential rain in Spain before Christmas.

"However, we do have frozen spinach available for our customers."

Asda and Morrisons appear to be unaffected by the shortages, with both still selling bags of spinach on their websites.A Sainsbury's spokesperson said: “There has been severe weather in Southern Europe but we are working with our suppliers to maintain supply for our customers.”

Tesco has also been contacted for comment.

Murcia is a key growing region in Spain and it provides 80 per cent of Europe's fresh produce during the winter months.

But rainfall has left some fields reduced to just 30 per cent capacity after receiving between 150 to 2015 litres of water per square meter, a spokesperson for the Leafy Salad Growers' Association told the Grocer.

They added that spinach was like "gold dust" in the UK.

Last month The Sun Online reported that bad weather in Murcia was affecting salad crops, resulting in shortages of salad leaves, broccoli, tomatoes, peppers, cucumber and citrus crops.

But salad brand Florette said it was not anticipating supply issues in the new year because of its “unique position on diverse locations and integrated grower base.”

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