Hurricane damage to Cuba’s grapefruit crop has been “significant”, according to importer Redbridge Worldfresh.

Morgan Barrett, senior trader at the company, said: “Hurricane Ike went straight up the middle of Cuba and affected the length of the island. It has not been possible yet to assess the damage in percentage terms of the total grapefruit crop and we are still waiting to hear, but the damage has been significant.”

Official reports coming out of Havana claim that Ike destroyed more than 135,000 tonnes of citrus when it rocked Cuba last week.

Cuban grapefruit was due to begin its season as the hurricane struck, and the inability to do so leaves Barrett to source late-season South African fruit and supplies from Honduras to make up for the shortfall.

Between them, hurricanes Gustav and Ike wreaked about $5 billion (£2.8bn) of damage on the island, the Cuban government said.

Topics