A lack of availability of salad items weighed on sales growth in British supermarkets in the four weeks to February. 25, industry data showed on Tuesday.
Britons are suffering from a shortage of salad staples, particularly tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers.
Damage to supplies caused by unseasonal weather disrupting harvests in southern Europe and northern Africa has been compounded by British and Dutch farmers planting fewer crops in greenhouses due to higher energy costs.
Market leaders Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Aldi and Lidl have imposed limits on how many salad items shoppers can buy at one time and the government has warned that shortages could persist until the end of March.
Market researcher NIQ, formerly known as NielsenIQ, said total value sales in the fresh produce category rose just 1.1 percent over the four weeks, with unit or volume down 5.4 percent.
It said supermarkets struggled to meet demand for tomatoes, where unit sales fell 17.6 percent and pepper unit sales fell 16.8 percent.
However, despite limited availability, sales of lettuce and cucumber increased by 13.7% and 31.8% respectively.
The NIQ said overall grocery sales rose 11.1 percent over the four weeks, down from inflation-adjusted volume, which it put at 14.5 percent.
Echoing figures from rival market researcher Kantar last week, NIQ said German-owned discounters Aldi and Lidl continued to gain market share, with sales of 25.6% and 21.1% respectively in the 12 weeks to February. 25, partially reflecting new store openings.
It said sales growth at Tesco was 8.7%, ahead of Sainsbury’s 8.1%, Asda 7.8% and Morrisons 0.5%.
Online’s share of the grocery market declined to 10.9 percent from 12.4 percent a year ago.