Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the recent shortages of certain foodstuffs; and what steps they will take to ensure fairness in the contractual relationship between UK fruit and vegetable growers and their supermarket outlets.

The UK has a highly resilient food supply chain, as demonstrated throughout the COVID-19 response. It is well equipped to deal with situations with the potential to cause disruption. UK consumers have access through international trade to food products that cannot be produced here, or at least not on a year-round basis. This supplements domestic production and also ensures that any disruption from risks such as adverse weather or disease does not affect the UK's overall security of supply.

In recent weeks some supermarkets applied item limits to a small number of fruit and vegetables due to poor weather affecting the harvest in Spain and North Africa, where a high proportion of produce consumed in UK at this time of year is grown. Defra is closely monitoring markets and supply chains to explore the factors that have contributed to ongoing supply chain pressures and is considering how the Government and industry can work together to mitigate them, in the short and longer term. In the meantime Defra has requested weekly data from supermarkets on supplies of the foods affected to ensure we have the latest available data.

We continue to keep the market situation under review through the UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group, which monitors UK agricultural markets including price, supply, inputs, trade and recent developments. Defra has requested weekly data from supermarkets on supplies of the foods to ensure we have the latest available data. Defra’s view is that the most effective response to food supply disruption is industry-led, with appropriate support and enablement from HM Government.

It is not for HM Government to set retail food prices nor to comment on day-to-day commercial decisions by companies. The supply of food is dependent on a combination of factors and supermarkets have worked with their suppliers to ensure availability.