Thursday 16 June 2022 04:37 AM Cabbage hits $9 a head as KFC, Oporto and Subway make tough decisions about ... trends now
Many Aussies are abandoning lettuce to avoid paying exorbitant prices for the leafy vegetable after floods meant the price skyrocketed – but now even the humble cabbage is expensive, fetching up to $9 at wholesale prices.
A number of Australia's fast food favourites, including KFC, Subway and Oporto, were forced to tweak their menus recently due to the lettuce shortage, blending cabbage into the salad to keep their prices low.
But the price of cabbage is also on the rise now and is looking to be the next budget blow-out for healthy-eating families amid surging living costs.
At Sydney Market on Wednesday, the city's biggest, the price for a wholesale cabbage was as high as $9.
Typically, restaurateurs expect to pay around $4.50 for a head of cabbage at the market, meaning prices have doubled in the past month.
Many supermarket shelves are empty across the eastern states (pictured) with shortages expected to continue as low supply drives up the prices and leave many missing out
Australians are likely to continue having to pay $12 for a lettuce as recent flooding pushes up the price of fruit and vegetables (Pictured, a supermarket in Brisbane selling lettuce for $12 a head last month)
Coles' online catalogue showed a full-sized, organic head of cabbage is now worth ten dollars, nearly half an hour's work for anyone on Australia's minimum wage.
A whole green cabbage runs at seven dollars at Woolworths.
Cos lettuce has nearly doubled in price from the beginning of January, with the cost of other greens like baby cucumbers and cherry tomatoes also skyrocketing.
KFC notified customers earlier in the month it would use a blend of lettuce and cabbage across its restaurants, Subway also warned of changes to its menu amid the leafy comestible crisis.
Retailers and restaurants have put the price hikes down to supply chain issues off the back of flooding rains which put many parts of eastern Australia underwater, including the Lockyer Valley which was inundated twice in two months.
The region is responsible for many of Australia's winter crops, with the fertile black soil lending itself to growing low-lying crops including beetroots, potatoes, broccolis and lettuces.
The high prices aren't expected to fall anytime soon.
'In normal times fruit and vegetable prices tend to recover relatively quickly and return to normal as production in other areas becomes available to fill supply gaps,'
