Yesterday, western Germany suffered the worst storms to hit the country since 2007, according to various reports, with torrential rain, high winds, hail and lightning mainly affecting the Rhineland and Lower Saxony areas.
The scale of the damage to crops remains uncertain, although Lower Rhine strawberries, cherries and open-field vegetable production has been unaffected, according to Fruchthandel.
It is still too early to gauge the impact of the subsequent transport disruption caused by the downing of trees and power lines.
Growers in the Netherlands equally felt the storm, although an absence of hail appears to have greatly limited losses.
Jos Caubo, spokesperson for Zon, a Dutch fruit and vegetables company based in Venlo on the border with Germany, said that although the thunderstorm hit its growers' main production area, not many have been affected.
'I spoke to one of our blueberry producers near the German border, and he said that a few branches had been broken and a few berries had been found on the ground, but nothing more,' he told eurofruit. 'I have also spoken to our logistics manager and he mentioned no issues with transportation.'
Parts of Belgium were also hit over the last two days, with reports of hail damage to growers of various products, including apples and greenhouse vegetables.
'There has been a lot of hail, with extremely large hailstones,' said Jo Lambrecht, commercial manager at Sint-Katelijne-Waver-based co-operative BelOrta. 'A number of our growers have been hit hard, with some production completely destroyed and greenhouses badly damaged.'
In France, many regions were put on high alert, from Lille in the north to Bordeaux in the south, with the Yvelines and Val d'Oise departments around Paris reporting major hailstorms.
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