Warning over food and drink items that may be affected by Super El Niño
A myriad of everyday cupboard essentials could experience a dramatic price hike in the coming months after experts declared El Niño may turn into a ‘super’ version sooner, rather than later.
Grocery shopping can sometimes cost a bomb, especially if you’re not keeping tabs on which supermarkets are considered the cheapest.
However, if you’re a budget-friendly store shopper and love a good bargain, you may find your money doesn’t go as far soon following the confirmation of El Niño.
Here’s everything you need to know about the complex weather event, including which items you’re probably going to have to fork out more for, such as lean protein and a classic morning beverage.
What is El Niño?
The Met Office explained that El Niño, a naturally occurring phenomenon, is only declared when sea temperatures in the tropical eastern Pacific rise 0.5 °C above the long-term average.
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“El Niño conditions developed over the past month, as shown by above-average sea surface temperatures (SSTs) across the central to eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean,” confirmed the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
This time around, the complex global weather pattern has a 63 percent chance of turning into a ‘very strong’ event, known as a Super El Niño, which could be the second most intense since the El Niño of 1991.
If the forecast holds, NOAA projects that tropical Pacific waters may warm 2.4°C by November, Science Adviser wrote.
As a result, heat and moisture are likely to be pumped into the atmosphere, disrupting weather patterns worldwide.
Flooding, droughts, wildfires, and other adverse weather conditions, including hurricanes, may become more prevalent as a result of the heated conditions.
Food items may become more expensive
Unlike parts of the United States, Asia, and Australia, the UK is not in the ‘direct path’ of El Niño.
However, dwellers are still likely to experience impacts via the supply chain.
Jim Dale, founder of British Weather Services, told The Mirror that various household items could end up increasing in price.
"The knock-on effects, as far as life is concerned, ecosystem life, that isn't just humans, but it's also wildlife and other things, is likely to be huge, potentially huge," he warned the publication.
Unfortunately, everything from bananas to coffee, sugar, tea, and cocoa may be put ‘under pressure’ due to the weather event, the expert warned.
We may also experience undersupplies of vegetables and fruit akin to shortages in 2023, the expert continued.
"You can expect shelves of various products, particularly fruit, veg and other items, either to be sky-high prices or not available at all into the future.
"That may take six months to happen, but nonetheless it still has to be factored in."
With El Niño potentially hitting South American countries like Brazil, it's possible we could experience inflated poultry prices.
Gemma Hoskins, UK director for Mighty Earth, predicted the events after a previous instance of El Niño severely damaged soy production in the country.
"With soy harvests expected to be down, prices for animal feed will go up, with costs pushed to consumers," she explained to The Grocer.
António Guterres issues weather warning
António Guterres, who has served as the Secretary-General of the United Nations since 2017, warned that the world needs to treat El Niño as the ‘urgent climate warning it is’.
In a video message, he continued: “El Niño conditions will pour fuel on the fire of a warming world.
“Impacts will hit even harder, travel even farther, and cross borders with devastating speed.”
He claimed that the only effective response is ‘climate action equal to the crisis’, including ending the world’s addiction to fossil fuels’ whilst ‘accelerating the shift’ to renewable energy sources.
Ella Scott