Qld cold snap forces lettuce price rise

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Cold weather in Queensland's key vegetable-growing area has pushed the price of lettuces to record highs of between $5 and $6 each.

A Melbourne wholesaler says the cold is hindering growth in drought-affected crops and he us paying farmers up to $36 a box, when the normal price is around $10.

But Gary Pasini says high prices should only remain for the short term.

"Prices will probably ease in the next two to three weeks as the Queensland weather starts to warm up a little bit," he said.

"The huge frosts they've had there in the past two weeks have greatly affected the crops but to get prices back to normal the farms definitely need rain."

Sourced from ABC.