Hot July weather causing food prices to rise

The hottest July in recorded history has affected harvests worldwide. And as a result, consumers are seeing prices increase for many vegetables, coffee, fruit, and nuts, De Telegraaf reports. Experts are concerned about the extreme outliers in the weather, going from scorching days to buckets of rain. Farmers and growers can do little about it.

July was the hottest month ever recorded. The European Commission’s climate office calculated that the average temperature in July was 16.96 degrees, 0.33 degrees higher than the previous record from July 2019. There were extreme heatwaves around the Mediterranean, in the United States, and in parts of Asia. This year, the weather phenomenon El Nino is also at play. El Nino can cause high temperatures and extreme weather.

“You notice an immediate effect on really vulnerable products,” Cindy van Rijswick, a fresh products expert at Rabobank, told the newspaper. “With lettuce, for example, if it is harvested and left in the sun for too long, it wilts. Fruit can burn in extreme heat.”

The volatility, changing from hot and dry to cold and wet, is particularly worrying, Van Rijswick said. That volatility has made potatoes expensive for the third year in a row. “That is quite unique,” she said. “Fries and chips producers are quite concerned about that.”

“The enormous drought in Italy and Spain is also affecting olive harvests,” Ridder Drost of supplier Liquido d’Oro told the newspaper. He’s seen price increases of 25 to 30 percent this year. “A price is now literally valid for one day.”

The ocean water also increased in temperature in July. On average, the surface water is now a record 20.96 degrees. That has a significant impact on fish stocks, the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) warned. “On land, you can still choose another type of grain that can withstand hot weather better; it is fairly artificial. Fishing is a natural system. For example, a fish depends on whether it can find food, and the temperature is very critical for baby fish,” Christien Absil of the MSC said.

Another effect of the weather extremes is that supermarkets are changing their methods. They are increasingly likely to opt for certainty over lower price, Van Rijswick said. “Typically, there is enough fruit and vegetables in the summer, and supermarkets do not necessarily have to determine the supply. But due to the extremes, they are more inclined to make agreements with regular suppliers so they do not end up at the back of the queue,” she explained. “But building security comes with a price tag.”