Severe hailstorms wiped out some apple and kiwifruit orchards on New Zealand's South Island on Tuesday night and staff are already been laid off, website Stuff.co.nz reported.

The story said the hail hit the northern Tasman district for around 20 minutes, with enough strength to collapse hail nets and leave hailstones on the ground many hours after it had finished.

Producer Rod Fry was quoted as saying it was the worst hailstorm in living memory, adding 15 to 20 orchards had likely been affected.

"Some places are a complete writeoff. It's chaos, devastating," he reportedly said.

"The kiwifruit had just started flowering and now the vines are stripped. The apples are a writeoff."

Stuff.co.nz also quoted Fry as saying some staff would have to go as there was simply nothing for them to do. He was unsure about how many long-term staff would be affected.

While it seems most pipfruit growers would have had hail insurance and kiwifruit growers would have been covered for up to about NZ$2 (US$1.54) per tray, in many cases the insurance would only cover the costs up to now and not the loss of the potential crop.

The story reported that the region's pipfruit industry was worth about NZ$150 million (US$116 million), and kiwifruit brought in revenues of around NZ$22 million (US$17 million).

Photo: Alpha, via Flickr Creative Commons

www.freshfruitportal.com