Lettuce and other veg prices set to drop, wholesalers say

Forget paying $12 for a lettuce or cabbage, prices on fresh ingredients are finally set to fall, providing relief for household budgets and the food industry.

In fantastic news for households and the hospitality industry, sky-high vegetable prices are set to ease in the next fortnight, suppliers reveal.

After iceberg lettuce and cabbage reached record highs of $12 each, and the likes of broccoli and cauliflower went through the roof on the back of floods and poor weather that affected harvesting and planting, prices will soften thanks to recent sunny, warmer weather.

Anthony Joseph from Brisbane fruit and veg wholesaler Alfred E. Chave said the next two to six weeks would see prices drop as supply increased throughout the state.

“They’re still going to be a bit more expensive than they normally are this time of year but they’re going to come back from the high prices they’ve been,” Mr Joseph said.

Graeme Twine, director of Suncoast Fresh, which supplies many of Queensland's top restaurants with fruit and veg, said prices on fresh food are set to lower. Picture: Zak Simmonds

He said the cost of cauliflower, broccoli and lettuce would lower first, with beans, corn, tomatoes, capsicums and zucchini to follow in the weeks after as supplies increased.

However, he warned prices wouldn’t be completely back on track until spring, when crops were again at their peak.

“For now you can expect things to ease 10 to 20 per cent, but that’s still going to be 50 per cent higher from where they were last year,” he said.

Graeme Twine from Suncoast Fresh and Fruitlink, which supply produce to Queensland’s top restaurants and fruit and veg shops, said the news would be welcome relief for restaurateurs who had been absorbing the skyrocketing costs, as well as household budgets.

The price of fruit and veg is finally set to drop, wholesalers say.

“We can see the light at the end of the tunnel now,” he said.

“The growing conditions are better, we’re a long way from the floods now, and everything is just coming together slowly but surely.”

He said the run of dry weather would also improve the quality of fruit and veg which had waned during the shortages.

“Quality dropped a fair bit and people were sending anything in (to the Rocklea Markets) because everything was selling so we should get back to a reasonable sort of thing,” Mr Twine said.

Looking for the best places to eat out in Queensland? See part one of the delicious.100, where we reveal 50 of the state’s top restaurants.