Food and Drink

UK facing hummus crisis amid a global shortage of chickpeas

Britain could be hit by a hummus crisis due to a global chickpea shortage.

Poor crop yields in some areas over the past year has driven down supply, but demand for the primary hummus ingredient remains high.

The price of supermarket hummus has leapt by 29 per cent since January 2017, according to analysis by the trade magazine The Grocer.

Tasneem Backhouse, managing director of chickpea supplier EHL Ingredients, said: “Demand is strong from every market and currently there isn’t enough supply to go around.

“This is driven by poor crops in some of the main producing origins over the past 12 months.”

In April 2017, news broke of a national hummus shortage after customers reported empty shelves in Tesco, Sainsbury’s and M&S where their favourite dip should have been.

The prospect of a similar event this year has sent Twitter into a storm.

RELATED

https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/food-drink/dishes-likely-cause-food-envy/25/01/

Jack Peat

Jack is a business and economics journalist and the founder of The London Economic (TLE). He has contributed articles to VICE, Huffington Post and Independent and is a published author. Jack read History at the University of Wales, Bangor and has a Masters in Journalism from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Published by