SUPERMARKETS cast a Halloween spell over locally produced pumpkins, a nursery owner has claimed.

Andrew Leaning, owner of the Good Value Plant Nursery in Bunkers Hill, near Kidlington, said local superstores had attracted his regular customers by selling the vegetables at lower than cost price.

Prices of 99p per pumpkin have carved into his profits and left him with a surplus of the seasonal favourite, he said.

Mr Leaning added: "We noticed that people were coming in and driving out again. We charge about £2 to £3 per pumpkin. Our prices have been the same for about five years.

"Last year, we had families with children coming in and picking out the pumpkin they wanted.

"But we have not had that this year because they have seen them in supermarkets, so we have been left out in the cold.

"The local supermarkets halved the price of their large pumpkins. They are selling them below the cost price.

"That basically meant that we had to take 25 per cent off, otherwise we would be left with them.

"There is no way, as a small grower, we can compete with that.

"We would normally sell about 1,000 - but this year we have only sold about 400 because the supermarkets have attracted the customers.

"It is lucky they have sold out because otherwise we would be left with 300.

"It is just unfair competition - they can afford to make money on something else."

A spokesman for Sainsbury's said: "We aim to be competitive on our prices against other retailers and to offer the best possible value for money to our customers."

Mr Leaning said that the price cuts arrived despite a national shortage. Summer flooding had wiped out fields which would normally produce pumpkins, and had affected his own stock.