'Production in uncovered micro tunnels was affected,' said director general of producers' association Freshuelva Manuel Verdier, 'although the majority of production, in ordinary tunnels, escaped unscathed. As a result, last week and for part of this week, we have been clearing through plantations and sending a lot of fruit to processing. In a week to 10 days the normal rhythm of production should be resumed.' Consequently the flow of production to the UK has been upset. 'Supplies are still interrupted as producers pick through the damage,' said Ian Waller of importer AFI Direct Sales. 'Once we get past that, supplies will come on again slowly, but we need a few days of improved weather.' AFI expects supplies to be back to normal next weekend with the Spanish season continuing into May. In the meantime, some of the gap is being plugged by Dutch and Belgian arrivals and AFI already has early supplies of English glasshouse Elsanta.

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