Fresh: Finer Fruit owner Sam Rachele says his store is stocked with leafy greens.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
In among the rising price of petrol and the soaring cost of living, shoppers have now been confronted by a hike in the price of fruit and vegetables.
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Due to the devastating flooding in Queensland and NSW, supply in fresh produce has been sporadic — especially for leafy greens.
As a result, many major supermarkets have been stripped bare in their fresh produce aisles — of lettuces, in particular.
Woolworths’ general manager of fruit and vegetables said stores had seen a reduction in both supply and quality.
“We’re still seeing challenges with lettuce and berry supply, so while the new crops have been planted, it will take a few weeks for stocks to return to more stable levels,” he said.
Truss, gourmet, cherry and solanato tomatoes, zucchini, beans and broccolini are also among the items in short supply.
Not easy: Finer Fruit owner Sammy Rachele has had to face an increase in the cost of certain fruit and vegetables.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
In May, Woolworths reported in its third quarter report that vegetable prices were in inflation while fruit remained in slim rates of deflation for the first three months of the year; however, the overall range-wide average price had inflation of 2.7 per cent.
Finer Fruit owner Sammy Rachele said while his shelves were still looking full, independent grocers had also been affected by the shortages.
“We’ve got the stuff, that’s not the problem, we just have to pay for the product,” he said.
“I’ve been here close to 30 years and I’ve never seen prices like this.”
He said certain lines — beans in particular — had been difficult to stock, and at times shop owners were receiving less than what was ordered.
However, he considered the store lucky to receive the stock at all.
“We’re always working hard to do our best to supply this town and we’ve been doing it for so long now,” he said.
“People are saying it could be anywhere from eight to 10 weeks before things come back to normal — but I guess, what is normal?
“We are so blessed to live in the Goulburn Valley where produce is plentiful and the quality is second to none.”
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