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New research looking at the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on fruit and veg supply has warned that leaving the EU without a trade deal at the end of the year would cause a more severe hike in the price of some foods.
According to researchers at Scotland Rural College (SRUC), if no agreement is reached then shoppers should expect to see shortages and price rises for fruit and vegetables.
In a paper published by the London School of Economics and Political Science, authors Cesar Revoredo-Giha and Montserrat Costa-Font suggested that a no-deal outcome may have far more severe effects on the food chain than COVID-19.
Significant impact
The researchers compared the price and availability of 20 fruits and vegetables between March and April this year, with the same months last year. They discovered that disruption in supply due to COVID-19 had a significant impact, with prices up.
Prices
“We can conclude that small disruptions in the food chain may exert a very important effect on the prices and the source of the fruits and vegetables consumed in the UK,” they noted.
The UK imports more than half of the tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, mushrooms, peppers and lettuce it consumes, with between 75 to 100 per cent of these products imported from the EU in 2019.
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