Brexit benefits - where are they?

I don’t understand the question. Supermarkets will only sell what the general public are willing to buy. Higher prices for perishables will mean wasted stock. Given the level of stock they hold, if they can’t get it at a reasonable price there’s no point in them having it on the shelves.

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Fools Gold :icon_wink:

“I don’t understand the question”
No problem, let me explain. Your argument seems legit to me and I will not dispute that. However that is - your - logic but I asked for some - evidence - that supermarkets do not want to pay the prices and therefore do not buy/offer tomatos. Just some links to reports or news articles which substantiate your claim.
Thank you in advance.

Well I can point you in the direction of Adam Smith. Things haven’t moved on much since then.

It has happened and all the doom sayers have been correct .
I travel to Europe quite frequently and I can tell you it has definitely happened

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For the love of whatever deity you subscribe too no one is going to die for want of a tomato. We are so spoiled we whimper if we can’t get what we want when we want it .

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nobody is going to die of tomato deprivation but it’s shocking that a country as wealthy and influential as the UK is unable to provide this humble fruit for sale to its population. Just looking at our history, this is a depressing time for a great trading nation.

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Tomatoes may just be the start, what’s next, Black Pudding?

Good morning,
In my (simple) imagination there are two possible solutions:

  1. Use the new trade deals with non-EU countries to provide the missing food and
  2. Simultaneously setup greenhouses to grow your own tomatoes and other vegs.

I remember how Johnson et al advertised the new opportunities, so it seems to be just a matter of grasping them.

Are you suggesting we Dig for Victory?

There are plenty of tomatoes and any other salad item you could wish for at my local Waitrose store. So Brexit must have been a success where I live if the supermarket stock of the humble tomato is the criterion used to assess it!

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There are piles of highly priced tomatoes in some shops. I wonder why.

Well go to another shop then, try The Co-Op there’s loads in there or a local green grocer.

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Hi AnnieS,
concearning your point of yesterday (Supermarkets do not want to pay the prices) I stumbled upon an interesting article from todays German news magazine “Der Spiegel” about that. The article supports your point. I translated a bit with deepl to make sure…

"
Due to bad weather and high energy costs, there have already been shortages of vegetables recently, and now fruit could follow - apparently, however, because the payment by supermarkets is not enough for the farmers.

Producers in Great Britain have planted only a third of the fruit trees that would otherwise be on the orchards, according to the British newspaper “Guardian”. The reason, they say, is that the income from sales to retailers is not enough for them.

One million new trees would have to be planted each year to maintain the 5500 hectares of production area in the United Kingdom, Ali Capper, chairwoman of the British Apple and Pear Trade Association, is quoted as saying. The association represents about 80 percent of producers in the country, she said. This year, growers were already planning to plant only 480,000 apple and pear trees, and that number has yet to be reduced to 330,000, she said. The main reason for the lack of investment is “unsustainable supermarket returns,” Capper said.
"

Unfortunately the article does not say which weather (where) is responsible.

this has always been a problem in large land mass areas such as the USA. Difficult to reach towns have reduced supply of goods because the cost of transportation is prohibitive for suppliers and consumers at the other end can’t afford to pay a premium price. I noticed this when we did a road trip across the US. They wouldn’t even stock national newspapers because of the sheer distance to some of the hard to reach places we visited.

I have assumed that the reason we only have so many goods in and recent sell by dates in our local sainsbury’s is because they a) only transport once a day now to save costs and b) want to save on refrigeration & wastage as customers have figured out that there are fresher goods at the back. So now our shop only stocks best before etc a couple of days. Fresh goods such as fruit/veg and milk sell out in the morning. I wonder when shops will start to go back to closing at 6pm. It’s pretty much all self service after 7pm anyway.

Believed there would be difficulties (not least in finding politicians willing and able to direct the withdrawal), but that the logic of the situation meant that these difficulties would be overcome, and a general acceptance of the 2016 vote would follow.

Did not expect the EU to be so intransigent, assuming that it would see the importance of maintaining good future relations. Instead, it has seized on Brexit as the bogeyman to convince Europe’s peoples that leaving the EU means disaster. Nor did I expect the British government, especially under Theresa May, to be so feeble in its response, or for her successors to be so paralysed, not least due to Remainer influence within the Conservative Party and the civil service. Declinism still rules Whitehall, to the relief of Brussels.

You know, I come here just to read your interjections and statements Spitty. :040:

Well you shouldn’t young lady, unless you crave ineffectual. :icon_wink:

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I don’t crave tomatoes enough to pay 3 x the usual rate

That happens occasionally here when some disaster interrupts the current source. Tomatos were $8 a kilo for a while when a growing area was hit by a storm and once bananas became so expensive that supermarkets refused to stock them because of a cyclone hitting the current crop.

It is usually just a matter of waiting until the next growing area comes on line and the price drops almost instantly back to “normal”. Part of the problem is that we don’t import fruit and veggies (speaking very generally) just export them.

One of the things during my last visit to the UK that did raise a wry smile was seeing two displays of identical brown onions, both for the same price, one labelled “Italian” the other “French”. Here the supermarkets would have one display whether they came from Queensland or Tasmania (or both)

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