British households could be about to suffer a major shortage of fresh fruit and vegetables after heavy rains in Spain destroyed a worrying number of its crops. Spain and Morocco jointly account for over half (57%) of all UK tomato imports, while the vast majority of cucumbers and sweet peppers consumed in Britain come from Spain.

According to Sky News, Tom Lancaster, land, food and farming analyst at ECIU, while it is currently “too early to say” whether the recent flooding in Spain – particularly in the wake of storms Marta, Kristin and Leonardo – will disrupt supply for British shoppers, but pointed to previous knock-on effects on supermarket offerings. In early 2023, extreme weather in the Mediterranean region led to empty shelves in the UK, prompting Tesco to limit sales of some fruit and vegetables. 

Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the UK’s retail association, the British Retail Consortium, also admitted that difficult conditions have “impacted the harvest for some crops”.

There are also fears for the export trade in new potatoes from Sa Pobla in Majorca – a top market for Britain. Approximately 50000 tons are exported from Majorca to the UK annually, primarily between March and June. These potatoes, largely grown in the Sa Pobla region, account for a significant share of early-season imports, with 70% of Spanish potato exports to the UK coming from this area.

Beyond Spain’s fruits and vegetables, the region has been rocked by three deadly storms in just two weeks. Storm Marta sweeps the Iberian Peninsula just days after Storms Kristin and Leonardo, bringing deadly flooding and major damage. One person was killed in Storm Leonardo, at least five after Storm Kristin made landfall on January 28 and two in the wake of Storm Marta.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to evacuate due to exceptionally wet weather in the Algarve in Portugal and Andalusia in Spain. In this region of Spain, 3,500 people were evacuated as river levels reached record highs. More than 100 roads were closed in affected areas due to flooding, landslides or fallen trees and some high-speed rail services were suspended.

In inland Andalusia, a dam that has stood for over a century sparked an emergency in the mountains above Ronda, forcing the evacuation of 11,000 people from their homes. Montejaque Dam has stood for 102 years as a spectacular engineering failure, so much so that it became known as the “Ghost Dam” by locals.

However, last week, the dam overflowed for the first time as its reservoir came within 30 centimetres of its absolute capacity. Strong winds and waves were determined as the cause, with outflow reaching 200 cubic metres per second, according to SUR in English.