Grocery warning: Why your local Woolies and Coles might be missing these essentials

Supermarket shoppers have been warned they may have trouble finding their favourite fruits and vegetables over the next few weeks.

This is due to recent heatwaves in growing regions in Queensland and Victoria, and the Victorian bushfires, which have impacted multiple crops.

These include pineapples, gourmet tomatoes, capsicums, cucumbers, strawberries, apples, and oranges.

A recent heatwave in Queensland saw an oversupply of pineapples and low prices, which has quickly dissipated, with similar boom bust cycles expected for other crops.

Extreme heat means crops ripen more rapidly, meaning they need to be harvested faster. That leads to oversupplies, like we recently saw with Queensland pineapples, followed by shortages. And pineapple supplies are now, in fact, dwindling.

Josh Ball, co-founder of Farmers Pick, tells nine.com.au what is happening behind the scenes "is a reflection of just how quickly the fresh produce market moves".

"When there's a surplus, it's often short lived because the fruit is harvested all at once and needs to be sold and moved on while it's fresh," Ball told nine.com.au.

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"With fruit like pineapples, that initial flush can give the impression of oversupply, but once that crop has cleared, supply can tighten just as quickly.

"So for shoppers, these price swings can feel like whiplash.

"There's plenty around one week and higher prices soon after. It's the reality of how quickly fresh produce is harvested, sold and cleared from the system.

"Fresh food doesn't behave like manufactured goods.

"You can't slow it down, store it indefinitely or switch supply on and off, you're working to nature's timing, not a production schedule."

A recent oversupply of pineapples saw Aussies indulging in the sweet, juicy, affordable fruit for a good week.

Now that flush of pineapples is over, prices are expected to increase.

As for the recent Victorian bushfires, pear and apple growing regions were heavily impacted in Harcourt.

While some apple varieties begin to be harvested in January, most apple and pear varieties are picked when the weather starts to cool down in March, so supermarket shoppers may not feel the impact of this until later this year.

Added to this, a heatwave continues to impact Victoria's north-west, which can lead to the early ripening of crops and therefore harvesting, which means a temporary oversupply of some fruits and vegetables and then shortages.

This means wildly fluctuating prices.

As of today, Coles is selling pineapples for $5 and Woolies has them priced at $3.90. At Harris Farm Markets you'll pay $6.99.

Gourmet tomatoes currently cost $7.90 per kilo, at Coles, $6.70 at Woolies, and $2.37 each at Harris Farm Markets.

While there appears to be plenty of red and yellow capsicums on the market at the moment, green capsicums are in shorter supply and cost $2.18 each at Coles, $1.73 at Woolies and $4.50 at Harris Farm Markets.

Lebanese cucumbers, the most common variety grown in Victoria, are priced at $5.90 per kilo at Coles, $1.24 each at Woolies, and $1.50 each at Harris Farm Markets.

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Strawberries are $3.50 for a 250g punnett at Coles and Woolies, and $5 at Harris Farm Markets.

Royal gala apples are priced at $1.34 each at Coles, 78c at Woolies, and 62c each at Harris Farm Markets. And Naval oranges are $2.23 each at Coles and Woolies, and $3.50 each at Harris Farm Markets.

Fruits and vegetables surpluses may be good news for shoppers during times of oversupply, but this isn't the case for Aussie farmers.

Anton van den Berg, co-founder of Box Divvy, explained to nine.com.au it is "bad news for growers".

"Normally, fruit is matured in a staggered way so that supply is spread evenly over the year," he said.

"Prices drop below the cost of production during the boom time, as supply exceeds demand.

"But when prices recover, demand outstripping supply, most growers have little or no fruit to sell, so they can't take advantage of the higher price until the next mini-boom.

"By which time prices drop and the cycle starts all over."

Weather events like extreme heat serve to worsen these cycles.

If you do want to eat your favourite fruits and vegetables year round, be prepared for fluctuating supplies and prices.

Or, you can stock up when they are abundant and then freeze and store them for later use.

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