UK | The sudden arrival of warmer weather and early summer start has quickly brought a crop flush of British strawberries.
This meant that many growers had more strawberries than expected, and Tesco moved in to help growers by taking some surplus crops.
As a result of the surplus, Tesco has bought an extra few hundred tons of British-grown strawberries and has just put one-kilo punnets on sale for £4.50 and 400g punnets on sale for the Clubcard price of £1.90. The regular price for a 400g punnet is £2.50.
Taking more crops from suppliers when they are in abundance and offering them to customers has been part of Tesco’s ongoing work to tackle food waste.
Tesco berry buyer Callum Baker said that the recent rain and cloudy start to the summer mini heatwave brought the strawberries on very quickly and meant that many growers suddenly had more than they expected.
“We work closely with our growers to make sure they are paid a fair price for their crops but also look for opportunities like this to offer our customers great deals,” said Baker.
“With decent weather and temperatures in the mid-20s forecast for the coming week, we’re glad to be able to provide them for our customers.”
Fruit grower Mansfields, based in Kent, also mentioned that despite the recent cloudy weather, the quality of their strawberries was very good, and the fruit had more time to develop.
The company, based in Chartham, near Canterbury, is one of the UK’s biggest all-round fruit suppliers. In addition to strawberries, it also produces cherries, apples, pears, plums, and apricots.
“The cold and wet spell earlier in the year plus the recent mini heatwave has pushed more of our predicted crop volume into late July and early August. This will result in an abundance of strawberries – roughly 40 to 50 tonnes per week until the end of August,” said Mansfields CEO Lee Port.
“Thanks to Tesco, these surplus strawberries won’t go to waste, and the good news is that they are big, juicy and luscious.”
The extra sunshine contributed to bumper strawberries across Britain, including in Kent, West and East Sussex, Hampshire, Staffordshire, and Herefordshire.
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