A Wrexham potato merchant has spoken out about the crisis facing fish and chips shops across North Wales.

Concerns about the shortage of potatoes, along with massive price hikes have hit chip shops hard across the country.

Peter Gwyn has supplied potatoes in North Wales for over 30 years with his business Peter Gwyn and Sons Quality Potatoes and says that he has never “known anything like this”.

The cost-of-living crisis has already seen rising bills for takeaway owners, but the unusually dry summer and wet winter has hit crops hard, and in the last eight weeks prices have drastically risen.

Peter explained: “There’s a massive shortage of potatoes because of the dry summer, this is where it’s all come from. The dry summer last year. We’re still using the old crops; we don’t go on the new crop till about July.

“It’s usually the end of June but it’s going to be late this year because they couldn’t plant in March, because it was too wet, and when they did plant we are still getting the frost, and it's cold at night. Nothing’s going right.”

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The result is a chain of price rises in the agricultural industry, and Peter thinks that some chip shops may not survive it.

He said: “The farmers are cashing in because their acreage was down because of the dry weather. They only got half the potatoes they should’ve out the ground so now they're jumping on to try and salvage some extra money so they’ve trebled the price, because there’s no potatoes hardly left in the country.”

Many farmers are even having to refuse custom due to the demand and shortage.

He added: “I’m usually selling potatoes at £7 a bag but I’m selling some now at £18 or £19 a bag. I can’t pay £700 a tonne and sell them out to the chip shops for £300 a tonne or I wouldn’t be here any longer would I?”

While supplies are dwindling, the shortage is thought to end around August time, according to Peter.

He said: “The potato prices should drop by the end of July or August, but if they don’t they’re in trouble.”