With harvesting already in full flow, apple production in the north-east Italian alpine region of Val Venosta – a key supplier of the fruit to markets across Europe – has reportedly been hit by 'a very violent hailstorm'.
According to reports in the country, a significant volume of newly harvested apples – said to be around 4,000 truckloads – were hit by the storm, with approximately 1,000ha of apple orchards thought to have been affected.
The areas most affected appears to be between Laces – where one of Italy's leading apple exporters, VI.P has its headquarters – and Silandro.
Early estimates suggest the total cost of the damage to production could be in the region of €20m.
However, VI.P director Josef Wielander said he was unable to provide an exact picture of what proportion of this season's harvest had been affected.
'It's still too early to quantify the damage and understand to how much and in what way the fruit trees have been hit,' he told the Corriere Ortofrutticolo.
'We will need a few more days to calculate how much of the crop has been damaged and to what extent,' he added.
'From there, we will have an idea of how much product needs to go for processing and how much will be sold as class two product.'
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