THE UK has been hit by a shortage of bananas after supplies were affected by transatlantic storms.
Tesco shoppers have found there to be none in stores across the UK, including Congleton in Cheshire, Flitwick in Beds, Milton in Cambridgeshire and Thurso, Dunfermline and Dundee, in Scotland.
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There’s also a lack of availability online too, with loose bananas and ripe five-packs showing as out of stock.
Asda has also been affected, with various branches lacking the fruit.
It’s understood the shortage affects loose bananas and has been caused by sea storms delaying shipments of the popular fruit.
Multipacks are still available, although are in increased demand, and it’s expected that supplies will return to normal next week.
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Shoppers have noticed the shortage, with one saying: “Tesco was rammed yesterday except strangely no bananas.”
Another added: “Why are bananas out of stock at your (Tesco) Flitwick superstore so often? Regularly aren’t any in the evenings.
“Just got back from the shop and none at all at the moment not even the organic or bagged ones.”
A third joked: “No bananas in Tesco so I bought a bottle of red instead.”
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One Edinburgh shopper spotted a sign in Tesco apologising for the lack of bananas due to availability issues.
Tesco says bananas are one of its bestselling products, with the majority of those sold in the UK and Ireland coming from Costa Rica, Ecuador and Colombia.
The supermarket has assured customers that multipacks of bananas are still available and that loose bananas should be back to normal from next week.
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Dan Bebber, associate professor of ecology at Exeter University and a top banana expert, said: “Storms can be one issue affecting supply, and production conditions also haven’t been great in many places due to El Niño.
“We do see fluctuations where sometimes there aren’t enough bananas coming in, or too many.
“It takes 10 to 14 days to ship the bananas over the Atlantic and then a further week to ripen them in a ripening warehouse.
“They can speed up the ripening process if they are in short supply, and if you see green bananas in supermarkets, then you know then there’s a pinch and they are raiding the warehouses early.
“Companies do help each other out to make sure the shops have them in stock, and that helps to level out the fluctuations.
“I would expect levels to return to normal soon but long term we are concerned about the impact of climate change on the countries that produce bananas, especially Colombia, as well as fungal disease which is a huge threat to the industry.”
It comes just weeks after Sainsbury’s cautioned shoppers in some stores that there are “nationwide” problems which could impact the availability of black tea.
Tea is largely produced in Asia and East Africa, with China, India, Sri Lanka and Kenya producing around three-quarters of tea globally.
Freight shipments from these regions have faced major disruption over the past two months due to attacks in the Red Sea.
Violence by Houthi rebels in the region caused most shipping firms using the key trade route, which heads towards the Suez Canal, to redirect shipments around the Cape of Good Hope at the foot of Africa.
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This adds roughly 10 to 14 days to shipment times, as well as increased costs for shipping firms.
Joint strikes from the US and UK have been launched on the Yemen-based Houthis in recent weeks in a bid to stop the recent wave of attacks.
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