UK consumers may have to pay more for the 382 million fish-and-chip meals they buy annually after the second-wettest year in a century curbed the potato crop.
Most of the country’s 10,500 outlets probably raised prices for chips by 10 percent or more, said Gregg Howard, the owner of Our Plaice in Hagley, England and president of the National Federation of Fish Friers. A medium portion of chips now costs 1.50 pounds ($2.42) in his shop, 20 pence more than last month.
That may increase again in the second quarter because the new crop won’t emerge until the summer, he said.
Britain’s harvest slumped 24 percent to 4.64 million tons last year, according to the Potato Council.