Carrots in the UK

Click on the image to enlarge it

In this graph we present aspects of the carrots production and trade in the UK. There is also a section on nutrition data about raw carrots.

Like the graph that we presented about potatoes, the graph is divided in three sections:

A. Nutrition
Some basic nutrition data are presented for raw carrots. Interestingly, the consumption of a single carrot (of any size) per day is enough to cover the needs of the human body in vitamin A (according to US Recommended Daily Allowance). More than 88gr per 100 (88%) of a carrot is water!

B. Production and Supply in the UK
There are several growers of carrots in the UK and they can provide carrots almost throughout the year; in fact in 2007, 95.7% of the UK carrots’ supply was home production marketed.  There is a number of Chantenay variety growers and some producers grow carrots organically.

During our basic ‘field’ research we also found carrots imported from France, Israel, Spain and Italy.

C. Price of carrots
We have compared the prices of seven (7) ‘high street’ grocers and (for comparison) Abel & Cole, an online trader of (mainly) organic food.

The date of our research (‘field’ and on-line) was the 17th of June, 2010. We visited grocers in Brixton (Iceland, Lidl, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s & TESCO), Old Kent Road (ASDA) and Balham (Waitrose).

59p per Kilogram was the lowest price (Lidl-Class I & Tesco-Class II, both in 1 Kg packs). [For your information, ASDA feature on their website a pack of 2 kg of carrots for £1 (i.e. 50p per kg) which is a lower price (per kg) than Lidl's and Tesco's 59p. However, the Old Kent Road ASDA that we visited (twice for this particular reason) did not have any of those packs at any point. In the end we asked the people who work there and they informed us that they (ASDA at Old Kent Road) don't offer them there.]

If it is useful (for comparison), the day before that (16 June 2010) the price of carrots (Loose) at Gyzi street market in Athens, Greece was 1 Euro per Kg; rather expensive (no matter that in street markets you can normally get the freshest produce possible) if you consider that the price (online) of loose carrots at Carrefour supermarket was 0.41 Euro.

TABLE of grocers examined and types of carrots sold

Grocer	Product	Origin	Package	Total Price	Price per Kg	Display until
LIDL	OAKLANDS British Carrots, Class I	Moray, Scotland, UK	1Kg	59p	59p
LIDL	Organic carrots, Class II	Spain	750gr	96p	£1.28
TESCO	Value carrots, 10-50mm, Class II	UK	1Kg	59p	59p	18/06/2010
TESCO	Carrots, Loose, Class I	UK	-	-	77p
TESCO	Carrots, Organic	Italy	750gr	£1.18	£1.57	22/06/2010
TESCO	Carrots, Chantenay (variety)	UK, Alan Bartlett and sons	500gr	75p	£1.50	19/06/2010
TESCO	Carrots, Class I, 20-42mm	UK	1.2Kg	£1.00 or 2 for £1.70	83p or 71p	20/06/2010
ICELAND	Carrots, 20-40mm, Class I	France	750gr	75p	£1.00	20/06/2010
SAINSBURY’S	Carrots	France, P. Charpentier	500gr	50p	£1.00	18/06/2010
SAINSBURY’S*	Carrots, Loose, 30-45mm, Nairobi (variety)	Fife, Scotland, UK			77p
SAINSBURY’S*	Carrots, Organic	Spain, A. R. Cabello	750gr	£1.02	£1.36	21/06/2010
M&S	Carrots, Organic, Class I	Israel	600gr	99p	£1.65	22/06/2010
M&S	Carrots, 25-35mm, Class I	Aberdeen, Scotland, UK, G. Jamieson	500gr	50p	£1.00	23/06/2010
M&S	Carrots, Loose, Class I	Scotland, UK			77p	21/06/2010
Waitrose	Carrots	England, UK	1kg	99p	99p	20/06/2010
Waitrose	Carrots, Loose, Organic	Spain			£1.69	23/06/2010
Waitrose	Carrots, Organic	Spain	1kg	£1.79	£1.79	20/06/2010
Waitrose	Carrots, bunch (Almost like the baby carrots of ASDA, but larger)	Italy	400gr	£1.79	£4.47	20/06/2010
Waitrose	Carrots, Chantenay (variety)	Israel	500gr	£1.39	£2.78	20/06/2010
Waitrose	Carrots, Large, Class I, Chantenay (variety)	Israel	600gr	£1.59	£2.65	19/06/2010
ASDA	Carrots, 20-40mm, Class I	France	1kg	98p	98p	19/06/2010
ASDA	Carrots, Loose	France			76p	20/06/2010
ASDA	Carrots, Organic, 20-45mm, Class II	Israel	750gr	96p	£1.28	19/06/2010
ASDA	Carrots, 20-35mm, Class I, Chantenay (variety)	Israel	500gr	76p	£1.52
ASDA	Carrots, Baby, 10-20mm, Class I	UK, M.H.Poskitt	150gr	£1.27	£8.47	20/06/2010
Abel & Cole	Carrots, Organic, Class II (minimum)	Italy	500gr	75p	£1.50

*Sainsbury’s: Holborn branch, 18 June 2010

Sources:

nutritiondata.com / Raw Carrots

Basic Horticultural Statistics – Defra

Abel & Cole – Carrots

ASDA – Carrots

Credits:
Nicholas Primentas (for providing prices from Athens, Greece)

If you found this post interesting, why not have a look at our post about Potatoes in the UK

Advertisement