Thanks to a milder winter and unusually warm spring, the shelves of British supermarkets have an early abundance of strawberries.

Berries occupy the largest market share among all fruits grown in the UK, accounting for an impressive 24.5 percent, and this has led to an increase in the cost of the berry industry by more than 1.4 billion pounds.

Throughout the past year, more than 131,000 tons of strawberries were sold in the UK, and buyers spent over £ 653 million on classic British berries. And this summer, new varieties will appear, including the large and delicious strawberry variety Malling Centenary, grown in Kent under the UK berry-growing program.

The early strawberry variety Malling Centenary quickly became the basis for the production of British strawberries from the beginning to the middle of the season and is as popular with consumers as with producers.

British Summer Fruits, an industry body supplying 95 percent of berries to British supermarkets, said new innovations in greenhouse production helped introduce new varieties.

British Marrow Fruits Chairman Nick Marston said: “Continuous innovation in our industry, including the introduction of great new varieties of berries that give sweetness and taste, means that we can now offer our customers the freshest and highest quality British berries for nine months of the year.”