Following the suspension of potato imports from the UK due to a Colorado beetle infestation in crops, the Canary Islands are bracing for a shortfall of the vegetable.

“It is still unknown how long the supply interruption will last, but there will be no potatoes from the UK ‘for a while’, possibly until January 2024, until it is resolved,” the Canarian Weekly recently reported.

According to data from the Canary Islands Institute of Statistics (ISTAC), the U.K. is the major exporter of potatoes in the Archipelago, accounting for more than 86% of all Canarian imports of vegetables, plants, roots, and tubers in 2022.

However, the ships carrying potatoes have been halted due to the presence of the Colorado beetle, an insect capable of totally eating crops and which has evolved resistance to most insecticides due to its widespread presence in other regions of the world.

“[…] England provides a huge amount of potatoes that it will not be possible to replace in the coming weeks from other countries. Those markets are not prepared to make a harvest of such magnitude in such a short time. Right now, we are looking at every market we can. But it is complicated,” The president of the Association of Seed and Crop Potato Distributors of Las Palmas (ADIPA), Juan Luis Pulido, said.

The Canary Islands government recently said that it will try to make up for the UK’s diminished supply with that of nations like Israel, Cyprus, Egypt, Libya, or Malta. Additionally, they are considering additional regions of the UK, such as Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.

“Importers have begun to move shipments and containers with potatoes from other countries. This week the market will be regulated and next week the British potato will be replaced with potatoes from other countries. We only anticipate a few adjustments over the next week or so”, the spokesman for the Canary Islands Government, Alfonso Cabello, concluded.