7.6%

Butchery

Commodities Report

Milk:

Up until now the price of milk has remained firm. However, it now appears to be falling. The concern will be around how much prices do drop and what this means for the industry in general as we may see farmers stopping production again. A major dairy supplier, Pensworth, announced it has now gone into administration which will cause some disruption in the industry.

Butter

Butter prices have started to fall. The reasons for this drop in price are numerous; prices were previously sky high, there is a lot of milk in the market which needs to be converted and butter is an obvious quick return option, and high prices have led to reduced demand from China for EU product.

Eggs

Prices remain high and supply is tight at the moment, with retailers trying to snap up as much stock as possible. In reality supply is going to whoever will pay most for product.

Potatoes:

Potato processors are currently not receiving all of their contracted potatoes from farmers, due to a poor crop and low yields. This means they are forced to supplement their contracted potatoes with free market or spot buy potatoes, which are significantly higher in price. Whilst there has been some respite for chip producers in the form of lower oil prices and some energy reductions, the potato cost is more than offsetting this and prices are rising.

Pork

Pork prices are rising week on week. This is starting to affect products like bacon and ham significantly. Producers are stating that pig numbers are falling, and it is this which is prompting these price increases. Additionally African swine fever continues to spread, causing serious production problems in Europe, Russia and most of Asia, including China.

Fruit & Vegetables

What’s in season for March?

• Bramley Apples

• Wild Garlic

• Hispi Cabbage

• Purple Sprouting Broccoli

Shortage Update:

Produce shortages from Morocco, Spain, Italy and France have been well documented in the media over recent weeks. This has been caused by the perfect storm of unusually high temperatures in January, causing crops to overproduce, followed by unseasonably low night time temperatures and flash storms resulting in the products being unable to mature or simply not ripening. Growers are quietly confident yields will slowly increase once temperatures return to a seasonal norm, but we expect challenges to remain through to April.

Availability issues:

• Lettuce - Cos, Frisee, Little Gem, Rocket, Iceberg, Lambs Leaf, Spinach, Baby Leaf 

• Peppers

• Tomatoes

• Berries

• Mushrooms

• Carrots

Fish & Seafood

Salmon:

Salmon prices are rising yet again. Between November 22 and January 23, they increased on average 27%. The main drivers behind the increase is the high feed prices, along with all-time low level stocks due to premature harvests and shrinking biomass. Further increases look likely in the run up to Easter – consistent with historical trends. Industry data suggests prices will not fall away significantly until June. Farmers have a tendency to cut back on harvest volumes at this time of year when the water is cooler and the fish feed less.

Other Fish

• Gilthead bream remains far better value than Sea Bass

• Farmed and sea-reared Trout prices remain high due to increased demand caused by the Salmon increases.

• Dover and Megrim Sole prices look to increase as we head into warmer weather and the fish start to spawn and become scarcer.

• Skrei cod are now in season until the end of April

• We advise waiting until April to list Hake on your menus as spring can see hugely variable catches.

• Monkfish prices have eased back somewhat.

• Ramadan starts on the 22nd March and lasts until mid-April. This might affect supply of exotic fish as fishing effort reduces