Lettuce Prices in Spain Nearly Doubled Due to Heat Wave

The lettuce market in Spain has been critical since the end of July due to the heatwave that swept across Europe. Water makes up over 95% of lettuce, making it intolerable to sustained high temperatures. Large volumes of lettuce in Spain had to be harvested prematurely to avoid rotting as a result of the high temperatures. The product on the market in W33 barely reaches 3kg/box, when normally the minimum weight is around 5kg.

This situation has created a shortage in Spain with market players importing lettuce from other countries, like Poland, Italy or Germany, to cover demand. However, importers were not satisfied, because the quality of imported lettuce was not up to standard, most likely also due to the heat wave. Lettuce was trading at USD 10/box EXW (10 pieces per box), where the minimum price before the heatwave was nearly half at around USD 4.5-5/box