Cucumber market hit by costs of energy, fertilizer

The surging cost of energy in Europe is having a direct effect on the price of the quintessentially British cucumber sandwich.

Along with soaring fertilizer prices, the impact of rising gas costs on food production is preventing glasshouse owners in the United Kingdom from using the heat required to grow green produce.

The cost of producing cucumbers has more than doubled as higher energy prices mean crops are not planted, reported the Reuters news agency.

The pressures facing producers, including higher labor costs, will push food prices up, said trade body British Growers.

"We are now in an unprecedented situation where the cost increases have far outstripped a grower's ability to do anything about them," said Jack Ward, head of British Growers.

The trade body said the cost of fertilizer has tripled in 12 months, while the price of carbon dioxide, which is used in both packaging and growing, has also surged.

The UK government was due to hold a crisis meeting with farming industry bodies on Thursday to address rising costs in food production.

The Country Land and Business Association welcomed government support but warned of the "sheer scale of the challenges ahead in the UK's food production", reported The Guardian.

Lee Stiles, secretary of the Lea Valley Growers Association, which represents nearly three-quarters of the UK's cucumber and sweet pepper crop, told Reuters "there's definitely going to be a lack of British produce in the supermarkets".

He said about 90 percent of the association's members "did not plant in January", and warned that many "will not plant while gas prices remain high".

Retail industry group the British Retail Consortium said a rise in shop prices depends on whether the biggest supermarket groups, such as Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Marks & Spencer, choose to pass production costs on to consumers.

The BRC said this week that food inflation was up by its highest mark since March 2013, increasing to 3.3 percent in March from 2.7 percent in February.

It said that overall shop price annual inflation reached 2.1 percent in March, the highest level since September 2011.

In a news release, BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said: "There have been mounting cost pressures throughout the supply chain for some time, including rising wages, input costs, global commodity prices, energy, and transport.

"Many of these costs are beginning to be exacerbated by the situation in Ukraine, but the full impact on prices is yet to be seen. Wheat prices have risen sharply, while the rise in oil prices has not only impacted domestic energy costs, but also the costs of fertilizer and transporting goods."

Quoted in The Guardian, the environment secretary, George Eustice, said fertilizer costs in farming increased urgency to reduce dependence on manufacturing processes that rely on gas.

"Many of the challenges we face in agriculture will require a fusion of new technology with conventional principles of good farm husbandry," he said.