Britain Facing Courgette Crisis

January blues are even worse without our favourite greens. Why have courgettes disappeared from our supermarkets?

Britain Facing Courgette Crisis

by Katie Russell |
Published on

We are just over halfway through January, which means most of our New Year’s resolutions have gone to shit. Stop drinking so much wine? Our recycling bin knows that’s not happening. But a lot of us are managing to keep up our healthy eating resolution. Or, at least, we were – until our favourite greens (the courgettes) went out of stock.

It’s all a question of supply and demand (I apologise for any traumatic Economics A Level flashbacks). Cold weather has hit Italy and Spain, meaning fewer courgette crops are growing. So there’s a low supply. But then we are all trying to wow our friends with Instas of courgetti, so there is a high demand. This means the price of courgettes has more than doubled.

Jordi Vorderman, UK Sales manager at vegetable supplier Valstar Holland, told the Guardian that courgette prices have quadrupled since summer. ‘Prices are very high – they are above £20 for a 5kg box. So what retailers are probably doing is that they are not buying at these prices and would rather go empty in the stores than buy at these silly levels. During the summer, prices are between £4 and £6.’

Some of us have taken a very ‘Florals for spring. Groundbreaking’ approach to this news.

But for the rest of us, the lack of courgettes is nothing short than a tragedy.

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Follow Katie on Twitter @KatieRussell_16

This article originally appeared on The Debrief.

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