Chip portions to shrink AND get more expensive due to dry summer
A trip to the chippy could end up costing Brits 66 per cent more if shop owners have to push the rising price of potatoes onto customers
CHIP portions are set to get smaller and more expensive after experts warn that there is a potato shortage on the horizon.
A trip to the chippy could end up costing Brits 66 per cent more if shop owners have to push the rising price of the vegetable onto customers, the National Federation of Fish Fryers has warned.
Brits chomp on 380million portions of fish and chips a year, according to the NFFF, but we could soon start feeling the pinch.
The price of potatoes has already doubled since last year, with a 25kg sack - which has enough for about 40 portions of chips - costing £12 up from £6, reports the .
The extreme weather this year created dire conditions for British spuds, with sub-zero temperatures in February and a heatwave in the summer months.
Now, the NFFF president Andrew Cook is warning that the price could go up by another two thirds to £20 a sack.
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He said: "We have to cover our costs. Prices will go up and many will reduce the size of a portion. A lot of small shops will probably sell up."
The Lancashire chip shop owner has said that he's already had to up the prices of a portion of fish and chips by 10p each, hiking prices to £4.20 for cod and £1.90 for chips.
The UK is unlikely to be able to plug the gap with potatoes imported from northern Europe as it has also had a poor harvest.
Brits have enjoyed large portion sizes since a drought in 1976 caused potato prices to soar causing many chip shops to close for weeks on end.
When they reopened, they sold bumper packs to entice customers back to the chippies.
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In July we reported how a crisp shortage was looming, as farmers struggled to keep their crops irrigated during the heatwave.
They're not the only crop to be hit hard by the weather, as growers are also warning about a national pea shortage, while the amount of carrots Brits produce this year could drop by a third.
Worringly, the veggie shortages is putting the great British roast at threat.
But some crops have thrived in the sunnier climates like strawberries, which enabled Aldi to sell massive cheap 1kg tubs of the fruit for £2.95.
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