Shoppers are baffled as popular fruit disappears from supermarket shelves
Britain has been hit by a banana shortage after supplies were hit by transatlantic storms.
Tesco shoppers have discovered that there are no stores in the UK, including Congleton in Cheshire, Flitwick in Beds, Milton in Cambridgeshire and Thurso, Dunfermline and Dundee in Scotland.
There is also a lack of availability online, with loose bananas and ripe five-packs showing as out of stock.
Asda has also been affected, with several branches missing fruit.
It is understood the shortage is affecting loose bananas and has been caused by sea storms that have delayed shipments of the popular fruit.
Multipacks are still available, although demand is increasing. Supply is expected to return to normal next week.
Shoppers have noticed the shortage, with one saying: “Tesco got hammered yesterday, except strangely no bananas.”
Another added: “Why are bananas so often out of stock at your (Tesco) Flitwick superstore? Regularly there are no bananas in the evenings.
“I just got back from the store and nothing at the moment, not even the organic ones or the bags.”
A third joked: “There are no bananas at Tesco so I bought a bottle of red instead.”
A customer from Edinburgh saw a sign in Tesco apologizing for the lack of bananas due to availability issues.
Tesco says bananas are one of its best-selling products, with the majority of products sold in Britain 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.
Dan Bebber, associate professor of ecology at the University of Exeter and a leading banana expert, said: “Storms can be an issue that affects supply, and production conditions have also not been great in many places due to El Niño.
“We do see fluctuations where sometimes not enough or too many bananas arrive.
“It takes 10 to 14 days to transport the bananas across the Atlantic Ocean and then another week to ripen them in a ripening warehouse.
“They can speed up the ripening process when there is a shortage, and when you see green bananas in the supermarkets you know there is a bottleneck and they are raiding the warehouses early.
“Companies do help each other to make sure stores have them in stock, and that helps smooth out the fluctuations.
“I expect levels to return to normal soon, but in the long term we are concerned about the impact of climate change on banana producing countries, especially Colombia, and about fungal diseases that pose a huge threat to the sector.”
The Sun contacted Asda for comment.
It comes just weeks after Sainsbury’s warned shoppers in some stores that there are ‘nationwide’ issues that could affect the availability of black tea.
Tea is produced largely in Asia and East Africa, with China, India, Sri Lanka and Kenya producing about three-quarters of the world’s tea.
Freight transport from these regions has suffered major disruptions in the past two months due to attacks in the Red Sea.
Violence by Houthi rebels in the region caused most shipping companies to use the main trade route, which heads towards the Suez Canal, to divert their cargo around the Cape of Good Hope at the foot of Africa.
This adds roughly 10 to 14 days to shipping times, as well as higher costs for shipping companies.
Joint attacks from the US and Britain have been launched against the Yemen-based Houthis in recent weeks in an attempt to stop the recent wave of attacks.
Do you have a money problem that needs to be solved? Get in touch by emailing money@the-sun.co.uk.
Moreover, you can join us Sun Money chats and tips Facebook group to share your tips and stories.