Fruit and vegetable prices are set to rise even MORE as devastating flood strike Sydney once again

Sydney’s soaring vegetable prices are set to rise even higher, with many crops from the city’s billion-dollar food basin ‘wiped out’ due to floods.

Farming industry leaders warn that the wild weather affecting large swathes of northwestern Sydney will impact greens, particularly – with everything from broccoli to cabbage and lettuce set to skyrocket amid a shortage.

NSW Farmers president James Jackson said Sydneysiders must be prepared for more pain at the supermarket checkout.

‘Those sort of crops, I think, will either be put back in terms of harvest time or wiped out,’ he said.

‘Certainly, some of the suppliers of some fruit and vegetables in Sydney will be crimped a bit, and when supplies reduce, the prices go up, so there will be price implications.’

Dramatic flooding across north-western Sydney, which was continuing to worsen on Monday, would raise the prices of greens available to the city’s shoppers (Pictured, the Hawkesbury River at Windsor on Monday)

In the year to March 2022 the price of fruit and vegetables rose 6.7 per cent with iceberg lettuce in some parts reaching an eye-watering $12 a head.

Mr Jackson predicted ‘significant damage’ in the Hawkesbury-Nepean valley is going to drive the cost pressure even higher.

The Hawkesbury River at North Richmond reached 14 metres at just after 2pm on Monday and continued to rise at Windsor after passing major flood levels earlier in the day.

The river passed major flood levels around midday at Lower Portland.

while the Nepean River at Menangle reached 13.66 metres by 2pm.

Significant damage is predicted for the flooded Hawkesbury-Nepean valley (Pictured, the Hawkesbury River at Windsor on Monday)

The floods will create shortages of leafy vegetables, broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower, NSW Farmers president James Jackson said

Flood warnings were also issued for the Macquarie River and St George’s Basin.

Food supply has been constrained across Australia’s eastern states because of flooding in Queensland and NSW between February and April.

All growers across Australia have also faced increased production costs from fuel, energy fertilizer, chemicals and gain price rises.

Fruit and vegetable production in southern Queensland is expected to return to pre-flood levels by August.

Flooding has made life a nightmare for farmers and growers in NSW and south-east Queensland in 2022 (Pictured, flooding at Camden, south-western Sydney on Sunday)

Meanwhile Coles, Woolworths, ALDI and IGA are all set to hike prices on hundreds of goods in a matter of weeks, worsening Australia’s cost of living crisis.

Higher grocery bills are expected from August 1, as a result of supermarkets agreeing to price-rise requests from suppliers of processed and packaged goods who are facing their own increased costs.

Inflation surged to 5.1 per cent in March in the previous 12 months, due to higher dwelling construction costs and fuel prices.