Bradford shops are being hit by the worldwide shortage of figs.

The popular fig roll biscuit is missing from shop shelves across the country.

The explanation for the fig shortage that has led to manufacturers and supermarkets unable to provide the biscuits seems unclear.

Some suggestions include fig harvests being damaged in the Mediterranean, either as a result of droughts in Turkey or raging forest fires in Greece last year.

There has even been speculation that civil unrest in some African countries such as Kenya has disrupted supply of figs to the West.

Sainsbury's at Greengates has had notices in the biscuit aisle warning shoppers that there are no fig rolls due to the global fig shortage.

The shortage is hitting both big-name fig rolls and own-brand products.

A spokesman for Bradford-based supermarket chain Morrisons reported some stocks of own-brand fig rolls but no branded products.

There was light at the end of the tunnel, though, as biscuit giant Jacobs pledged the production lines would be up and running again soon.

A spokesman said: "There has been a supply issue and it has been very difficult to get figs. We are not exactly sure why there is a shortage but we expect to be back in production by the end of April."

Denise Junqueiro, of the Californian Fig Advisory Board, said: "The California fig crop figures are in, and the 2007 tonnage was off by 9.3 per cent. Coupled with the worldwide shortage in dried fig production due to severe weather experienced in 2007, it has put all of the California fig processors in a short-supply situation.

"Severe weather in 2007 affected Turkey, Greece and Spain, where some estimates have placed the crop size reduction as much as 40 per cent. As it will take some years for worldwide production supplies to recover, the California dried fig industry expects to see higher prices and better grower returns in the immediate future."