Spain’s recent floods are creating challenges for some food supply chains across the country and wider Europe as many agricultural areas have been submerged in water.

Valencia and the surrounding areas, including Almería and other parts of Andalucía, are responsible for mass production of fresh produce, including more than 60% of the country’s citrus fruits. Huge areas of this farmland is now under water, which will affect the harvest for coming months.

Britain, one of Spain’s major agricultural buyers currently imports 25% of its fruit and 8% of its vegetables from Spain including lettuce, broccoli and tomatoes.

The AVA-ASAJA (Valencian Agricultural Producers’ Association) already confirmed that they expected “significant damage” to the region’s crops and operations. The AVA-ASAJA also asserted that they were anticipating thousands of hectares of citrus, persimmons, vegetables, vines, and other crops to

As extreme weather continues to threaten parts of Spain, there is ongoing concern regarding food security. Drought and flooding are both weather phenomena that affect Spain sporadically and have a significant knock-on-effect on agricultural produce.

Below is an overview of the impacts the floods are having on all areas of the supply chain:

Transport
Road closures are causing delays, particularly for trucks coming from Almería and Murcia, which now have to divert around Madrid due to the partial closure of the eastern coastal motorway. Additionally, many transport companies are reluctant to collect pallets from Valencia due to the disruption.

Weather
Recent heavy rainfall has compounded supply issues, with further rain over the weekend worsening the situation. Farmers are struggling to harvest most crops at present, and there are concerns about medium-term crop loss due to the sustained rainfall.

Citrus – one of the hardest-hit categories:

Easy Peelers
Easy peelers are facing challenges as the South African season ends, leaving a supply gap. Moroccan and Egyptian easy peelers are expected to arrive in a few weeks, though delays and shortages are likely.

Satsumas
The heavy rainfall has severely impacted the areas around Valencia, resulting in a very limited supply of satsumas, which we expect to persist for the next two weeks. This shortage is likely to lead to rising prices.

Oranges
The Navelina orange season has just started, with volumes expected to increase next week. Meanwhile, the remaining stock of South African Valencias are projected to clear from the market over the next week, which may help ease some supply constraints.

Tenderstem Broccoli
The tenderstem supply has been significantly affected, with estimated crop damage at 20–30%. However, we still have access to British produce and a limited supply from Kenya to help cover shortages.

Tomatoes
Production has had a slow start, with the first vine tomatoes loading this week. Both round and cherry vine tomatoes are currently in short supply, although we expect volumes to increase next week. Additional supply is coming from Morocco and the Canary Islands, with a limited Dutch supply available to help bridge the gap.

Iceberg Lettuce
Iceberg lettuce has also been affected among salad items. Prices are likely to remain high as availability is constrained and quality impacted, particularly with a reduced shelf life.

ACTIONS WE'RE TAKING:

Regency continue to proactively mitigate availability issues and future supply risk, putting solutions in place to reduce impact, such as product switches and recipe re-engineering.

In the weeks ahead, logistics will be challenging as transportation routes are disrupted by floodwaters. With transport delays as well as crop damage, we are working very closely with our suppliers to continue to monitor the situation, source alternative supply (for example tomatoes usually sourced from Almeria and Murcia have been moved to Dutch supply) and update our members on any impacts to availability or pricing.

Many of the crops in the affected area are not yet ready for harvesting. Our suppliers are working on supporting their farmers in the regions after the immediate aftermath and also working with farmers to build up a picture of what gaps there may be in supply in the coming weeks.

If you have any questions or concerns, please get in touch.